The Horrid Truth
by Flute Domination
Summary: Meredith was a normal American teenager until Dumbledore showed up at her house in the middle of the night. As it turns out, there were a lot of things she didn't know about herself and her real family. And sometimes learning the truth can be just horrid. (Note: Sequel "The Shameful Truth" is up and in progress if you want to read it too.)
1. Sent Packing

**Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright (if it isn't public domain) to Emily Dickinson. I do not own Harry Potter. I only own Meredith and her Muggle family. Now, please enjoy the story.  
**

Tell all the Truth

By Emily Dickinson

Tell all the truth but tell it slant

Success in our circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm delight

The truth's superb surprise;

As lightning to the children eased

With explanation kind

The truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind.

* * *

Truth, like surgery, may hurt, but it cures.

-Han Suyin

* * *

Chapter One: Sent Packing

Meredith sat at her desk one late evening, trying to think of something to do. She looked at the clock: half past midnight. Everyone in the house would be asleep by now, even the energetic cat that routinely woke the house in the middle of the night. No matter how hard Meredith thought, she couldn't come up with something interesting to do, and she was still bored out of her mind. She couldn't sleep, no matter how hard she tried to. She had already tried counting sheep and clearing her mind, but none of it was working on this particular night. So, she had decided to pull an all-nighter and hopefully be tired enough to sleep the next night. It was her summer vacation, so Meredith didn't need to worry about falling asleep in classes the next day. She might, however, fall asleep at the library while doing Honors Chemistry homework—_I shouldn't have skipped second grade! Now I'm gonna be too un-advanced to live through AP classes, _she thought—but that wasn't a big deal. She had more than two weeks left of summer. Unfortunately, school started very early this year (August 10th) so she didn't really have as much time as she thought she did. It was only July 24th after all. Well, as of thirty minutes before it was actually July 25th.

A loud crack came from the kitchen. Meredith started. _Probably just the cat up for a midnight snack,_ she thought, but she was proven to be wrong when light footsteps and voices came from the kitchen also. Meredith froze, then quietly got up from her normally squeaky, wooden chair, and grabbed a steak knife from behind a few books on the bookshelf. Normal people don't keep steak knives in their rooms, but if you pulled all-nighters all the time like Meredith, and tended to be a little paranoid, you would acquire some knives in your room too.

One of the voices said something inaudible and a light appeared, coming from the living room. The same voice said another word.

Meredith crept into the hallway with her steak knife. _This is why I'm going to get a hand gun when I'm old enough_, she thought. The voices grew clearer as Meredith inched closer to the living room.

"Why are we here, Professor?" a boy was asking. Meredith wondered what in the world a teacher was doing in her house at this hour of the night. And how had they gotten in?

The professor replied, "There is someone I wish for you to meet, Harry. Someone who will change the tides of this year and years to come. In fact, I think she is listening to us right now." Meredith gulped. "Although I think she would prefer putting on a dressing robe before coming out to see us," the professor continued.

Meredith looked down at her pajamas: a grey and green striped tank top with black and pink polka-dotted pants. Definitely not something she would want anyone to see her in. She crept back to her room to put on a bathrobe.

She returned to the living room a few seconds later, still holding the steak knife, but with it in the pocket of the robe. These guys didn't sound dangerous, but one could never be too careful. They could be kidnappers for all she knew, trying to lure her out of her room in the dead of night when no other living soul was awake. Nevertheless, curiosity got the better of her. It always did. She walked out into the living room and beheld the strangest sight she had seen so far.

Sitting on her sofa was an old man with a long white beard and grey hair and half-moon-shaped glasses, wearing a _dress_ that could have come from the 1700's. He was holding a stick. Next to him sat a boy who looked about 13 or 14 years old with messy black hair and wire-rimmed circle glasses, wearing a shirt that looked two sizes too large, worn out jeans, and dirty sneakers, which she guessed had once been black. Sticking out of the pocket of the boy's jeans was a rod not unlike the one the old man was holding.

_WHAT THE HECK?_ Meredith thought, and her eyes widened in surprise. Then she realized, _OH MY GOSH, HARRY POTTER AND DUMBLEDORE ARE IN MY LIVING ROOM! _Just to be sure, she asked, "Who are you?" She was still holding the steak knife in her pocket.

"I," began the old man, "am Albus Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore to you."

OK. So, Dumbledore was in her living room even though he had died in 1996, and this was 2011. And Harry looked 14 even though he was 14 in 1994. WHAT?

Dumbledore responded to the puzzled look on Meredith's face. "The books are wrong, Meredith. They were only a guess at what would happen. And I have to say, they was very close to the truth until now, when you come into the story."

Meredith sat down on the floor, mouth gaping. She looked at the boy Professor Dumbledore had called Harry. Yup, there was a lightning scar on his forehead. He had to be _the_ Harry Potter.

"Yes, Meredith, this is Harry Potter."

"Hi," she said to Harry, not knowing what else to say. She had planned out what she would have said to Harry if she met him (something to the effect of, "will you marry me?"), but she had never really counted on any hope that she would actually meet Harry Potter.

"Hi," Harry greeted her in return.

There was silence for a while. Finally, Professor Dumbledore broke it. "There is a place for you at Hogwarts School if you wish to take it."

"What? But I'm fourteen and don't wizards usually start at—and wait! I'm a wizard?"

"A witch, actually. And yes, I know that you are fourteen. You will have to catch up with three years of work, but I have heard that you are a brilliant and diligent person, and I think you will be able to manage it. However, to help you, I must erase your memory of what is in the books and films. Knowing the future and trying to make it come true can be a deadly thing. _Obliviate,_" he said, and suddenly, Meredith could not remember what the Harry Potter books were about. She knew there were books, but had no idea what they were about or who the people were. It was the same with the movies. All she knew about the wizard world was that there were two wizards named Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter.

"So, now that _that_ is done, I shall explain to you what is going to happen if you accept my offer," Dumbledore was saying, but Meredith interrupted him.

"Prove it first. Prove you're not impostors in costumes, trying to kidnap me. It's the middle of the night and two wizards are sitting on my couch. Why? And how do you know I'm a witch? And how do I know that you're actually wizards?"

"I knew you would ask that! You _are_ very clever, Meredith. First, I shall prove that we are wizards." He flicked the stick, which Meredith now realized was a wand, and the light bulbs on the ceiling shattered. But before any of the pieces hit the ground, Dumbledore flicked his wand again and the pieces all flew back up to reconstruct the light.

"Won't my parents and sister hear this racket?" Meredith asked in a whisper.

"No. I have cast a spell to muffle all this sound so they will not hear anything. Nor will your pets. And there is something about your parents and sister, other than the fact that they do not have magic, which I shall reveal to you on a later date. Now, to proving that you are a witch." Dumbledore stood and walked over to Meredith, holding out his wand for her to take. She did, and then stood, wondering what she was supposed to do next. "Well, flick it at something," Dumbledore told her.

"Okay." Meredith flicked the wand at the lamp on the coffee table next to the couch, feeling incredibly stupid. She had no idea if it would work for her. If it didn't, that would be extremely embarrassing. Luckily, the lamp turned right on. Next, she flicked the wand at the ceiling lights. They went on. She flicked the wand at the ceiling lights while watching the light switch. The switch did not move, but the light went off. She pointed the wand at the tissue box, making it hover towards her. She waved her hand above and below it to make sure there weren't any strings holding it. There weren't. She dropped the wand in surprise and sat down again on the carpet.

"You are a very talented witch," Dumbledore said, picking his wand up off the floor and stowing it in a pocket of his dress. "So, will you come to Hogwarts and learn magic, or not?"

Meredith thought carefully about what Dumbledore had just said. She was actually _good_ at something for a change. Not that getting all B's wasn't good, but Meredith had never been _good_ at anything else. Art? No. Sports? Double no. Anything else that required extreme long-term tedious concentration? Triple no, which is why she didn't hesitate long to say, "Are you kidding? This is freaking awesome! Anything to get away from _this_ boring town! Um...where's Hogwarts?"

"In Great Britain. You will take a train there from London, where you will also buy your school supplies. The Weasley family has agreed to take care of you until school starts. I think you will get along very well with that family. At Hogwarts, you will be in the fourth year like Harry here. You will be taking extra lessons to make up for the three years you missed. Everything will go well and you will have a terrific year. Next summer, you will most likely stay with the Weasleys again and—"

"I'm not coming back here?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I'm afraid not, Meredith. I will tell you why another day. Now, a week exactly from this moment"—Meredith looked at her watch—"I will be coming here once again to take you to the Weasley home. Pack everything you wish to keep. The day you leave is the day your parents and sister forget you forever. Your things you leave behind will disappear, and it will be as if you never lived here."

"What about my friends? Will they remember me?" She was confused and suddenly saddened. Her family would _forget her?_ Lack of sleep seemed to be catching up with her, causing her brain to not want to function. Sure, it was awesome to be going to a wizard school, but leaving her whole life behind?

"They will remember you. Tell them that you are adopted and are going to live with your real family in Europe. Say nothing of the school or where exactly you are going or that you are a witch and met wizards."

"So I just pack everything and get up and leave in the middle of the night?" She meant the question to sound a little sarcastic.

"Precisely." Gee, this old man was crazy. "As I said, bring everything you wish to keep. Put it all in this." He pulled a folded brown rucksack out of his pocket and handed it to Meredith.

"How will I fit everything in _this?_" she asked, inspecting the frayed-looking material.

Dumbledore took the bag from her and held it open on the ground. "Well, climb in and you'll find out."

Meredith looked at him like _WHAT? You've got to be kidding me._ Nevertheless, she climbed into the bag, and was surprised to find herself in a wide open space about three feet tall and the length and width of the room she shared with her sister. She climbed back out of the bag into the living room. "Whoa."

Harry looked as shocked as Meredith felt. She guessed that he had never seen a magic bag either.

Dumbledore handed Meredith the bag again. "Spend the next week sorting you possessions, setting apart the ones you will pack. Start packing all of those things in here on the night you will leave, after everyone, or at least your sister, is asleep. I will come for you at one o'clock in the morning to take you. Take care of telling your friends goodbye before that night. Write them an electronic letter, or something of that sort." He saw the sadness in Meredith's face and added, "Yes, you will see them again. Keep in touch through electronics during the summer. They do not function at Hogwarts. And, it would probably be better for you to write down their information and leave your cellular telephone here. Any questions?"

"Professor, how do I know I'm not dreaming?"

"Do I look anything like—oh, never mind. You won't remember. You do not think of dreaming while in a dream, Meredith. Does this look like a dream?"

"Well, no."

"Then it is not a dream. Tomorrow you will wake up and that bag will still be where you leave it tonight, magical as ever. Farewell now. I shall see you in one week." Dumbledore indicated for Harry to stand, which he did. They linked arms, and Dumbledore said, "Goodbye for now, Meredith." Then they disappeared with a crack like the one Meredith had heard in her kitchen not long ago.

She took the steak knife out of her pocket. _Paranoid geek wizard,_ she thought to herself. _Good title._ She poked her finger with the end of the knife hard enough that it hurt. Dumbledore had been right. This wasn't a dream.


	2. Into the Wizarding World

Chapter Two: Into the Wizarding World

The next week was torture in Meredith's mind. She had never felt so depressed, not even when her hamster had died when she was seven. The day after she had received the news that she was a witch, she began packing things that her parents wouldn't notice were gone. She started with the items inside her desk, sorting through old birthday cards, years' worth of essays, and phone numbers on scraps of paper. Meredith put all the papers she wished to keep in folders on a filing rack, which she put in the bag Dumbledore had given her.

The day after she packed her papers, Meredith started looking through her clothes, trying on ones that she wasn't sure would fit, and packing winter clothes that nobody would notice were gone from her closet and drawers. Surprisingly, she had a lot of clothes that didn't fit.

The next day, Meredith rested and went to the public library to work on her "summer homework." What she actually was doing, because she no longer needed to do summer homework, was drafting a letter to the friends whose email addresses she had, to be sent a half hour before her departure so as to avoid visits and nagging questions. This is what she wrote:

Dear Friends,

I'm sorry to say that I will not be seeing any of you at school or other events this school year. I have found out that I am adopted and have gone to live with my biological parents in the UK for a few years. I will be going to a school there. I won't be able to reply to emails during the school year, but I will try to keep in touch during the summer. If I can, I will arrange for a time to visit and see you guys again. There isn't a phone number for me to give you, or a mailing address for letters. Only email. Maybe eventually I'll be able to call you. I don't know. It depends how much long-distance costs.

I am not sure what my schedule will be like during the rest of the summer, so don't expect me to reply to you within 48 hours like I would if I were there.

Also, please do not call or visit my adoptive parents' house to talk to them about the details. They can't and won't tell you anything.

I will miss you all very much in the coming years. Thank you for being such great friends to me. You all really have made me who I am. I'll remember all of you forever, no matter what. Thank you all for understanding and being my friends. We _will_ see each other again.

-Meredith

PS: This is not a note I was forced to write by kidnappers. Don't worry about me. I'm OK.

PPS: You may print this out and read it to my friends whose email addresses I don't have. Please don't forget me. Goodbye.

Meredith really hoped she was right about meeting all of her friends again. She wondered what their reactions would be when they read the email. Would they be sad or cry? Would they sit with blank expressions in front of the computer for half an hour, trying to understand what was going on? Would they call her house and demand to speak to a person who her family would know nothing of? Would they forget her eventually, so when she came back, she was an outcast without friends anymore? Would they hate her? Meredith sniffled and sighed silently through her nose.

She wondered also if her family would miss her. Then she remembered the spell that would make them forget all about her. Why couldn't Dumbledore just explain to them that their daughter was a witch and was going to a special school? Or maybe she actually was adopted. But her parents always said they remembered when she was born, so she couldn't have been adopted, right? _Right_, she decided, and packed up to bike home from the library.

Meredith had come up with a lot of questions for Dumbledore in the three days since he and Harry Potter had appeared in her kitchen. For example, why hadn't she done magic before? Why hadn't he come for her when she was eleven? How would she be getting to Britain all the way from California? What secret was Dumbledore keeping about her parents? Why did their memories have to be erased? And (it sounded like a pathetic question, but whatever) would she need to bring her asthma medicine with her? How would she refill prescriptions? Why did Harry Potter need to come to meet her? What was she supposed to change in his life? Who were the Weasleys and what were they like? Was she really adopted? How would she ever manage to do four years of school in one? What did wizards wear? (She hoped it wasn't dresses like Dumbledore's.) Why wouldn't electronics work at school? Why was Hogwarts called Hogwarts? Pig blemishes? Meredith ran over all these questions in her mind each and every night that week before falling asleep.

Finally and sadly, a whole week passed. Meredith had packed all the books, some clothes, and all the papers she wished to keep. At 11:30 on Thursday night, the night Dumbledore was to come for her, she started packing to rest of her things: clothes, dirty and clean; old notebooks and journals; her laptop computer with its charger, after she had sent the email to her friends; the entire contents of her dresser drawers; her money box with nearly 60 dollars and three British pounds; it all fit in the small rucksack.

Meredith pulled a pen out of her bag and began making a list of questions to ask Dumbledore. Questions that had been in her head for a whole week. Why hadn't she thought of writing them down before?

She woke with a start, head on the desk, uncapped pen still in hand. It took her a moment to realize what had woken her. There were footsteps in the hallway: Dumbledore. Meredith checked her watch: one in the morning, just as she had suspected. She stuffed the paper and pen into her bag and put on the light sweater that was draped across the back of her chair. She had changed out of her pajamas into clean jeans, a T-shirt, and sneakers at eleven, right before she'd started packing.

Meredith grabbed her magic backpack and took one last look around her room. All that was left was her bed, sheets, pillows, empty desk, cell phone, some pens and pencils, empty bookshelf, and empty dresser.

Dumbledore peered into her room from the doorway. "Ready? All packed?"

Meredith nodded and followed Dumbledore down the hall, taking a last look at the home she would probably never see again. She needed to ask Professor Dumbledore something.

"No," he answered before she had taken a breath. "The healers at St. Mungo's Hospital will cure you of your lung disorder."

"Okay. Why are the memories of my family going to be erased?"

"You were never supposed to meet them. They are not your true family." They were in the living room now. Dumbledore held out his left arm. "Take my arm, Meredith. And take one last look around you."

Meredith looked around the living room where she had once played board games with her sister, where they had watched movies and laughed together. Meredith had taken some of those movies with her, but only the ones that were actually hers. She hoped to watch them sometime and remember her life in America through them. She looked into the kitchen, where she had gotten tomatoes and Cheerios cereal for lunch once, and where, a week before, Dumbledore and Harry Potter had appeared.

"Are you ready, Meredith?"

A week ago, if Dumbledore had asked this question to Meredith, she wouldn't have hesitated to say yes, but at that moment, looking around and taking in the last glimpse of the house where she had lived her entire life, she wasn't sure she wanted to go. She realized exactly how much she would miss being there, and missed it just thinking about leaving it forever. She was beginning to have second thoughts about leaving. Just knowing there was a wizard world was enough. But her curiosity got the better of her, as it did most of the time. Curiosity about who she was and why she ended up here with people who weren't her real parents but acted like they were. Curiosity about the world that she had constantly wished to be part of. Fourteen and a half years was too short to be in this place. She wished she had savored every moment of it when she could have.

"Meredith, do you need a moment?" Dumbledore asked.

Meredith shook her head, and took Dumbledore's arm.

Immediately, she felt like she was spinning, faster and faster. Her house had disappeared. She was being compressed into a tight cold spot, and then it was over. She was standing, hands on knees, panting, on the lawn outside the strangest house she had ever seen. It was tall like a tower, but wooden and crooked in places. The only way it could have stayed standing was by magic.

It took Meredith a few moments to notice that it was daylight here. The nine o'clock morning sun was pouring down on her.

"Welcome to your new home," Dumbledore said. Meredith looked around to see if there was any other house he could possibly mean, but there wasn't. The whole area for at least a mile on each side of the house was just open country.

"Where are we, Professor?" she asked.

"Somewhere in the English countryside. Am I right to assume that you wouldn't know where you were if I told you the name of the nearest town?"

"Yeah."

"You will learn your way around in the coming years." He began walking towards the odd house. "Ah, it appears that your new family has come out to greet you."

Meredith noticed the people coming out of the house. First came a slightly plump woman in a brown patched dress and a white apron; next came a tall, thin, balding man; after them came two identical twin boys who looked about sixteen, with a girl about thirteen; then an older serious-looking boy, and another boy about Meredith's age.

The woman Meredith figured was Mrs. Weasley got to Meredith first, smiling like a Cheshire cat. "Meredith, dear!" She came and hugged Meredith. "Welcome! We're so glad to have you here!"

"Thanks," Meredith said, and gave her best fake smile. _I want to go back home,_ she thought.

"You are very welcome. We're happy to help. Allow me to introduce the family. This is my husband Arthur." Meredith shook hands with the tall man. "You can call us Mum and Dad if you like," Mrs. Weasley added. Then, "And these are Fred and George." The twins stepped forward and both said "Hello" at the same time. "Don't worry about telling them apart. Even I have trouble with that. And here's Ginny." The only girl stepped forward. "And Percy," who was the serious boy. "And Ron," the boy standing towards the back gave a little wave.

With all of them standing in a line in front of her, Meredith realized that all the Weasleys had bright red hair. She was the only one there with long dark curls.

"Everybody, this is Meredith from the United States. She'll be staying with us for a few years. During that time," she put an arm around Meredith's shoulder, "she'll be like a part of our family. Now, let's all go inside." Mrs. Weasley then turned to Dumbledore. "Cup of tea, Albus?"

"No, thank you, Molly. I must be leaving. Farewell, Meredith. I shall see you at Hogwarts if not sooner." He waved goodbye and began to walk towards the spot where they had both appeared a few minutes before.

"Wait! Professor! You were going to tell me—" Meredith started to say, but Dumbledore had already vanished with a crack. Meredith's shoulders drooped. "About why you erased my family's memories and why I'm not going back," she whispered, then sighed and walked into the Weasley house with her adoptive mother.

"It isn't much, but it's home," Mr. Weasley said as he walked into the kitchen with his wife and Meredith.

"This is better than any house I've ever been in," Meredith said, fascinated by the dishes that were washing themselves and the clock with a hand for each family member. Instead of numbers, there were words on the side, such as Traveling and Home and Mortal Peril, which, luckily, nobody was pointed to. Meredith noticed a hand that was now going from Traveling to Home. It had her name on it. _Wow,_ she thought. _I guess I really am a part of this family now. Meredith Weasley._

"You must be exhausted, Meredith. What time is it in California?" Mrs. Weasley asked her.

Meredith looked at her watch, which now said ten in the morning. "About two in the morning," she replied.

"Goodness, dear! Aren't you tired? Would you like to lie down and sleep for a while?"

"No, thanks…Um, Mum. I'm used to staying up all night. And I had a nap before I came."

"Well, in that case, would you like to go to your new room to unpack? Ginny can show you the way. Ginny," Mrs. Weasley gestured up the stairs to Ginny, who nodded.

"Come on," Ginny told Meredith at the foot of the stairs. Meredith followed her up two flights of stairs before Ginny said, "You've got Charlie's old room. He's my oldest brother. He lives in Romania now, working with dragons."

"Cool."

Ginny stopped in front of a door at the top of the fourth flight of stairs. She opened the door and indicated for Meredith to go in.

The room was about the size of the small room Meredith had shared with her sister in California. It was furnished with a twin-sized bed, an empty roll top desk, a bedside table with a lamp, and an empty bookshelf.

"Go ahead and unpack," Ginny said, looking curiously at the small backpack Meredith set down on the bed. "Is that all you brought?"

"Yeah. Dumbledore magically expanded the inside, so it's really the size of this room, only shallower."

"Can I see?"

"Sure. Watch." Meredith felt like Mary Poppins as she pulled out four series of books by distinct authors, then the file rack of papers, then a duffel bag full of underwear and toiletries, then a few pairs of jeans and shorts, then some shirts, then a figurine of a Pegasus, then a box with the contents of her desk in it, then her laptop…

"Whoa, what's that?" Ginny asked, pointing at the computer.

"It's my laptop computer," Meredith told her.

"Is it a Muggle thing?"

"Muggle?"

"Non-magic people."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess so."

"You should show it to Dad sometime. He'll go insane when he sees that. He's never touched one before, but has wanted to for years! He took the day off to see you come, so when you're done unpacking…Wow!"

"Whoa!" Meredith said.

"What?"

"You…You…" Meredith knew she would sound stupid saying it. "You have a British accent! That's so cool!"

Ginny laughed, but it was a reassuring laugh that told Meredith that Ginny got that she was new here and didn't get some things. "And you have an American accent! It's so weird!" They both laughed.

It took about four hours to unpack, mostly because Ginny kept asking things like why Meredith's photos didn't move, after which she explained that people in wizard photos waved and moved. They also talked about school and what Meredith would need. Meredith learned that her school letter had come on July 31st. She and Ginny read the letter together. Meredith would need a lot of supplies:

A wand

A cauldron

Brass scales

Many textbooks and spellbooks, some of which she would receive as hand-me-downs

Potions ingredients

A school uniform

A cloak

Quill pens and ink (which Meredith thought would be awesome to use)

A trunk (she would use Mrs. Weasley's old school trunk, since she didn't use it anymore and they happened to have the same initials, which were painted on the trunk)

A formal dress (which she had no idea why she needed)

There was also an extra page containing a letter from the Deputy Headmistress about how she was to afford all these new things. Meredith would exchange her Muggle American money (and the few pounds and pennies she had been given by people who went to England) for wizard money. Her adoptive family, the Weasleys, would pay for what Meredith couldn't pay for herself. But seeing as Meredith had quite a few bills in her moneybox, she doubted that the Weasleys would have to pay any. She might even have some pocket money left over. Maybe she could buy a pet cat. She missed her cats from home. The letter also said that Meredith would be taking the boats to the castle with the first year students, even though she was technically a fourth year, to be sorted into her house.

Another thing the letter said, and Meredith found this to be very important, was that she was to go by the name Meredith Weasley at school, and she wasn't to tell anyone her Muggle last name. Dumbledore would meet with her on the first Saturday of the new term to discuss why, among other things.

"So I guess I'll have to wait until the first Saturday of term to find out why I didn't come here when I was eleven?"

"Yeah," replied Ginny. "Or you could send a letter to Dumbledore asking him."

"You could use my owl if you want," the boy called Ron said as he stepped through the open doorway.

"Owl?" Meredith asked, confused.

"Post owl. They carry letters to people. Ron's got one, although he's so small, he might not be able to carry a letter back with a true lengthy response from Dumbledore, which it will probably take to answer your questions."

"Anyway," said Ron. "Mum's wondering if you two are ever going to come down for lunch. It's already half past two."

"No wonder I was getting hungry," Ginny told Ron. "Let's go, Meredith. After lunch, you can tell me what all those Muggle books are about. They look interesting, but I've never heard of them. Come on."

During a lunch of the best sandwich Meredith had ever had, Ginny told her about the Quidditch world cup they would all be going to two weeks from Monday. "It's going to be so fun! Dad might even get special tickets for the best seats in the top box! This time it's Ireland versus Bulgaria."

"One question, Ginny. What's quidditch?"

"What's qu—" Ginny looked confused, then got the _oh_ expression on her face. "Sorry. Forgot you were raised by Muggles. Quidditch is this game played on broomsticks."

"In the air?"

"Yes, in the air. And the players have to score goals or defend the goals or hit special balls called Bludgers with bats at other players. And one player tries to get the Snitch, which gives their team an extra 150 points. It's confusing to explain. We could teach you how to play later, if you want."

"Maybe tomorrow after I've slept for twelve hours. I've been awake for, let's see, twenty-two hours straight, so I'm getting a little tired. I'll probably go to bed early tonight. So today I should probably stick to explaining stories and unpacking instead of flying a broom. I'd probably break my neck if I flew one now."

They both went back up to Meredith's new room to look at books. Meredith told Ginny half the story of Lord of the Rings, ending by saying that Ginny would have to read the books herself to find out what happens next, and agreeing that Ginny could borrow the books, beginning with The Hobbit. She went on to show Ginny how a computer could play movies. In exchange for these stories, Ginny told Meredith classic wizard fairy tales and showed her the garden gnomes that walked and talked, and even the ghoul in the attic, which Meredith thought looked absolutely revolting. By the end of the day, Meredith and Ginny were best friends.

_We're sisters,_ Meredith realized. _I have a sister who I actually get along with! Of course, it helps that Ginny is close to my age._

That night, Meredith fell asleep less than five minutes after her head hit the pillow. _This is awesome_, she thought before drifting off.


	3. Getting Accustomed

**This chapter contains copied excerpts from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. If you recognize it from the book, I don't own it.****  
**

Chapter Three: Getting Accustomed

The next day, Meredith woke up at eight in the morning to bright full sunlight in her face and a knock on her door.

"Uh, come in," she said sleepily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

Ginny came in. "Sorry. Did I wake you up? Mum says breakfast is ready. And today we're all going to play quidditch over on that hill." She pointed out the window at a hill with a wide top and a few trees. "But first we'll teach you how to fly in that field." She pointed at the field a little left of the hill. "So come down whenever you're ready. If you want to go back to sleep, that's okay too." She walked out the door, closing it after her.

Meredith got up and got dressed in jeans, a T-shirt and her battered converse high-tops. Long jeans because she knew that the weather in England could change on a moment's notice -what movie had she seen that in?- and because the morning looked a bit chilly outside.

After washing her face in the sink of the bathroom two doors down the hall, she went downstairs to breakfast. As she walked down the last few steps of the staircase, a male voice that Meredith didn't recognize said, "And this must be our new sister!" Meredith came into the kitchen/dining room. Standing there were two redheaded men in their early twenties. _More_ Weasleys?

"You must be Meredith!" the taller one with long hair said. "I'm Bill."

"And I'm Charlie," the other one said.

"Hi," Meredith said as she shook hands with each of them in turn.

"We just arrived," Bill said. "We're going to the Quidditch World Cup with the family in two weeks. You _do_ know what quidditch is, right?"

"Yes, sort of. Ginny explained it to me some yesterday. I'm going to learn how to ride a broom today."

"That should be exciting," Fred or George said, coming into the room and sitting down with his twin.

"Unless she's a naturally good flier," the other twin said. Meredith sure hoped she was a naturally good flier. She was a naturally good witch, wasn't she? She'd made the lights turn on without a spell, hadn't she? So why wouldn't she be good at flying, too?

Two hours later, Meredith was walking out onto a field in front of the house with a Comet Two-Sixty broomstick. She was covered from head to toe with protective equipment. Two pillows, one in front and the other in back, were tied around her torso; she wore thick boots and kneepads that were only used by players in games; on her hands and wrists were what looked like brown braces for sprained wrists and her elbows had pads on them; lastly, she wore a Beater's helmet, which they had borrowed from Fred and looked like a pilot hat, only it tied at her chin and would keep her head safe if she fell.

Behind Meredith walked Ginny, Fred, George, and Ron, all with broomsticks. "This is a good spot," Ginny said when they had reached the middle of the field. There was a pond not far away. Meredith made a mental note to avoid it.

The Weasleys formed a half-circle around Meredith, backing up a few paces to give her some room. Ginny stepped forward. "Okay, Meredith. I've never really taught anyone to fly, but it's pretty simple. Just do as I do. Put the broom on the right side of you on the ground." Ginny put her broom on the ground to her right and Meredith copied her as best she could with bulky pillows tied around her. "Good. Now put out your hand like this and say 'Up.' Like this: Up!" Her broom flew up into her outstretched right hand.

"Up!" Meredith said, and the broom rose into her hand, just a little slower than Ginny's had for her.

"Great! Now you can get on the broom," Ginny got on her broom and Meredith did the same. "Now hold on tight and push off the ground as hard as you can. Ready?" Meredith nodded. "Go."

They both pushed off the ground and soared into the sky. Meredith had never felt so free. Sure, she was a bit wobbly on the broom, but that could be fixed with time and experience. The broom responded quickly (but not instantly) to where she turned it and soon she was flying over the house and through the trees on the hill. She stopped right above her family's heads.

"Now gently touch back down," Ginny told her, demonstrating by flying slowly and low until her feet touched the ground and she hopped lightly off the broom.

Meredith flew low over the grass of the field, touched down, and promptly tripped and did four summersaults on the ground before stopping and face-planting in the mud next to the pond.

"I'm okay," Meredith said, spitting dirt and getting up. Who knew a broom could give you so much momentum?

"Got it! That was great!" one of the twins said, taking a camera eyepiece away from his eye. "We'll develop it and show you later." He put the camera into a case on the ground.

"Well, I think you've got it except for the landing, but that's nothing a little practice can't fix. You'd better keep those pillows on. Anyway, when Harry gets here, maybe he can teach you more," Ginny said.

"Harry Potter?" Meredith asked.

Ginny looked at her in surprise. "Yeah, how do you know him?"

"He came to my house with Dumbledore in the middle of the night a week ago. Dumbledore introduced us then. Is he your friend?"

"Yes, and only the most famous wizard in history," Ron said.

"Why?" Meredith asked him.

"Well, when he was a baby, you see, the most powerful dark wizard of all time went to his house to kill him." Ron paused, then whispered, "V-Voldemort, or You-Know-Who, as we call him, killed Harry's parents and did the spell that should've killed Harry, only it backfired and You-Know-Who lost his powers. Harry lived. He's the only person to ever survive the killing curse, and that's why he's famous."

"Is that how he got the scar on his forehead?"

"Yeah, that was from the curse," Ginny explained.

"Ah. So what happened to You-Know-Who?"

"Lost all his power and only barely lived. Then he lived on the back of a professor's head when we were in our first year, second year he tried to come back as a living memory from a diary, and last year we found out that my rat was actually his servant and he got away to help You-Know-Who," Ron told her.

"Whoa," Meredith said. "That's, um, intense."

They all flew for a while, teaching Meredith how to play quidditch. After a few hours, they landed (Meredith only had a minimal fall this time) and went into the house for lunch.

During the next two weeks, Meredith spent her time learning all she could about the magical world from her new family. They told her all about school, Diagon Alley where she would shop for all of her school supplies, magical creatures, and their adventures at Hogwarts in previous years from the mirror of Erised to the Chamber of Secrets to the secret passageway into the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade Village.

In return, Meredith taught Mr. Weasley how to use a laptop computer, told them all what it was like to live in America, and showed them her United States currency. In the time she wasn't helping to de-gnome the garden, feeding the chickens, telling stories, or watching elder members of the family perform magic (because the ones under 17 weren't allowed to do magic outside of school) Meredith could be found in her room or outside reading spellbooks, potions books, magic history books, and everything else about the wizarding world that she could find around the house. In the two weeks of her stay before the World Cup, she had devoured the entire family library.

A few days before the Quidditch World Cup, they all decided to finally go to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies and teach Meredith her way around the shops. The day before, Meredith had gone with Mr. Weasley to the Ministry of Magic by getting into a telephone booth that sank into the ground when Mr. Weasley put a wizard coin into the slot. The booth spat out a nametag for Meredith, and they stepped out of the telephone booth and into a large busy room. They then went into a brass-gated elevator to the floor with the Department of Muggle Artifacts. There, Meredith had managed to exchange her Muggle American money for half a Galleon each bill and coin. Obviously, the Ministry didn't get much American money to study. On their way out, Mr. Weasley had told Meredith that she had definitely gotten a good deal; a Galleon was worth a lot of money, and she'd had a lot of coins in her moneybox. Meredith thanked him for convincing the Ministry to treat her money as an artifact, and not as money to be exchanged with the goblins who ran Gringotts bank. She would have a lot left over after buying all of her school supplies.

In Diagon Alley, first all the Weasleys except Meredith went to Gringotts. Then they went to Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore, to buy books for the year. Mrs. Weasley sent Meredith to Ollivander's wand shop to buy a wand while the others got their books.

When Meredith entered Ollivander's, an old man was standing at the counter selling a wand to an eleven-year-old boy standing with his mother. After a minute, they walked out of the shop, the boy admiring his new wand. Meredith walked up to the counter.

"How may I help you, miss?" the old man she assumed was Mr. Ollivander asked her.

"I'd like to buy a wand," she said.

"Ah, you must be the girl Albus told me would be starting late at Hogwarts," Ollivander said, walking back among the shelves of boxes of wands he had made.

"Yes, sir."

"Which year will you be starting?" He walked out of the storeroom with a measuring tape, stepped out from behind the counter, and unrolled the measuring tape, which immediately started measuring Meredith's height, waist, wrist, nose, forehead, ears, feet, and the distance around her elbow.

As the measuring tape did its job, Meredith told Mr. Ollivander that she would be going into fourth year, but would be taking extra classes to make up for the three years she had missed.

"I see," Ollivander said. Then he went back among the shelves and pulled out a box with a wand in it. He waved a hand, and the measuring tape rolled itself up and flew onto his desk. Ollivander pulled the wand out of its box and handed it to Meredith, saying, "Cherry with dragon heartstring. Ten inches. Give it a flick."

Meredith waved the wand, pointing it at a vase of flowers and hoping to lift it like she'd lifted the tissue box with Dumbledore's wand a few weeks before.

The vase fell to the floor and broke. Meredith's eyes went wide and she stepped back from the broken vase, giving the cherry wand back to Ollivander. "Sorry," she said.

"Not a problem. The wand chooses the witch, Miss…?"

"Weasley, sir."

"Good. Miss Weasley. Very kind of them to adopt you. As I was saying, the wand chooses the witch, and this one simply has not chosen you. Another?" Meredith nodded and Mr. Ollivander put the cherry wand back in its box and set it aside. He went back among the shelves and pulled out another box. Meredith broke a lamp with that wand. With the next wand, she broke the ceiling light, which Mr. Ollivander quickly repaired with a flick of his own wand. Then Meredith exploded a chair. Finally, just as Meredith was running out of new things to point the wand at and destroy, Ollivander brought out a wand and said, "Elder with a phoenix feather core. Stiff as goblin steel. Twelve inches." Ollivander braced himself for another explosion.

But the explosion didn't come. Instead, the inkpot on Ollivander's counter went floating through the air and the wand hummed a lovely tune of earth-shaking vibrations heard all the way from inside one of the deepest vaults in Gringotts.

"The wand chooses the witch, Miss Weasley. This wand will be ten Galleons, please. A very powerful wand, this is."

Meredith paid him the ten gold Galleons, thanked Mr. Ollivander, and walked out of the shop, examining her new wand. It was black as night with a slight greenish tinge to it, completely unbendable, and slightly pointed at the end. Meredith tucked it back in its box and put the box in the rucksack Dumbledore had given her. It was still expanded, so she figured it would be easier to carry all her books and things with a backpack that had that much room in it.

Meredith headed for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions to get her school uniform: three sets of black school robes, two grey knee-length skirts, two pairs of black slacks, four white button-up collared shirts, grey knee-socks to wear until she was sorted into her house (at which time she would receive grey knee socks with three stripes of her house's color near the top), a pair of black hose, two pairs of shoes that would look a little like Mary Janes, a pointed hat, and a school cloak which would later have her house crest embroidered on it.

Meredith walked into Madam Malkin's shop and was measured for all the clothes. Then she tried on shoes, bought size small socks, and got a hat that felt comfortable. Then Meredith remembered her letter mentioning something about dress robes or something fancy. She told Madam Malkin, who led her to a section of dresses and colored dress robes. Meredith picked out and tried on a blue dress. After Madam Malkin had hemmed and fitted it, Meredith purchased it with the rest of her school clothes.

After she had put the packages of school clothes in her backpack, Meredith went back to Flourish and Blotts to meet up with her family. She had been gone much longer than she'd thought. It _had_ taken a while for Madam Malkin to fit her for her robes, since she was in that in-between teenage stage when everything was either too large or too small. The waists of all her skirts had been taken in an inch. The ones that had fit just right were too short for school.

She found all the Weasleys waiting for her in front of Flourish and Blotts. "Oh, here you are!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. _These people need cell phones,_ Meredith thought. "Have you got your wand and all your clothes?"

"Yeah. They're in here," Meredith said, pointing at her backpack. "The expansion spell is wearing off, so it's smaller, but everything fits."

"Good. Here are your cauldron and scales, gloves, potions ingredients, phials, telescope, parchment, books, and quills," Mrs. Weasley told Meredith as she handed each one to her to put in the backpack. Meredith was carrying the most items by far, although it didn't appear so. The others only needed books for the year, and dress robes. "And would you mind carrying some of Harry and Hermione's things, dear? They might be coming with us to the World Cup, and we won't have time to come here again before then. Harry's aunt and uncle should let him roam around more, bring him to London sometime. Let's go, all."

They all went to a fireplace people were appearing and disappearing into, and grabbed a handful of white powder. Meredith had only traveled by Floo powder once before, and that was on their way to Diagon Alley that morning. She was less nervous this time, and confidently stepped into the fireplace, said, "The Burrow," and threw down her handful of powder. After a few minutes, everyone else joined her at the Weasley house.

Meredith unpacked her backpack in her room and gave the packages with Harry and Hermione's books to Mrs. Weasley so she could give them to Harry and Hermione when they came. Meredith didn't even know who Hermione was.

Later that day, Meredith helped Mrs. Weasley send a letter by Muggle post to Harry's house to ask his aunt and uncle if Harry could go to the Quidditch World Cup with them. Like Mrs. Weasley, Meredith didn't understand how much British post cost to send a letter, so Mrs. Weasley put about ten thousand stamps on an envelope, enclosed the letter in it, and Meredith and Ginny went to drop it in a post box.

On the way to the nearest village, Meredith explained to Ginny all she knew about how Muggle money worked in England. A pound was worth about a dollar and sixty-five cents of American money. However, one could buy what they could in America for a dollar, for a pound in Britain. A pound, like a dollar, had 100 pence or pennies in it.

They found a post office and put the letter in a drop box outside. Then they began the long trek back to the Burrow, during which Ginny explained wizard money to Meredith. A Galleon was worth 17 Sickles and a Sickle was worth 29 Knuts. A Galleon was worth about five pounds, or eight dollars, so Meredith had definitely gotten a good deal on her American money by getting a half Galleon for every quarter, nickel, and dime.

A few days later, they received a reply from Harry by his snowy owl, Hedwig. Harry Potter was coming with them to the World Cup the following Monday. Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron were going to Harry's house by Floo powder on Sunday to pick him up.

On Saturday, the family was told that Mr. Weasley had gotten special tickets to the top box at the World Cup. Ron was so excited that he immediately sent his tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, with a letter to Harry telling him about the tickets.

On Saturday evening, a girl about Meredith's age with bushy light brown hair met Meredith, Ginny, and Ron at the edge of the nearest town, Ottery St. Catchpole, with her trunk and cat.

"Meredith, Hermione. Hermione, Meredith," Ron introduced them to each other. "Hermione, Meredith is from the U.S. We sort of adopted her. Meredith, Hermione's a friend of mine from school."

"Nice to meet you," Meredith said as she and Hermione shook hands. Then they all walked back to the Burrow. On their way, Meredith commented, "What a cute cat. Can I hold him?"

"Sure," Hermione said, handing the cat to Meredith. "His name is Crookshanks." Crookshanks started to purr. "He likes you."

After a few minutes of walking with Ginny and Ron carrying Hermione's trunk and Meredith carrying Crookshanks, Hermione asked, "So Meredith, are you coming to Hogwarts with us?"

"Yup," Meredith answered.

"What year?"

"Fourth, but I'll also be doing first, second, and third at the same time. I haven't been to any wizard school before."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Maybe they can't detect wizards or witches in other countries? It's a question for Dumbledore."

"You've met Dumbledore already?"

"Yeah. He sort of came to my house in the middle of the night with Harry Potter and told me that I'm a witch. Then a week later, he picked me up in the middle of the night and took me here."

"I would consider that an honor. It was Professor McGonagall who came and told my parents about wizards. Why in the middle of the night? Do you know?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe because that's when it's day here. Or because nobody was awake to see him come. He had to modify my family's memories so they don't remember me. And my American friends think I'm adopted and have gone to England to live with my biological parents."

"Wow. I suppose another question for Dumbledore is 'Why?' in general?"

"Yeah. Hopefully he'll tell me when I go to his office on the first Saturday of term. It said in my Hogwarts letter that he wants to see me then. I've got a whole list of questions to ask him."

They kept walking in silence and eventually reached the Burrow. Hermione settled into Ginny's room, which she had shared with Ginny the previous summer also. On Sunday, Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron went by Floo powder (which was still impressive to watch, in Meredith's opinion) to Harry's house at five o'clock.

Fred and George appeared in the fireplace again a few minutes after they had left. George was carrying Harry's trunk. Mr. Weasley had sent them back ahead so he could fix the fireplace that Harry's aunt and uncle had boarded up. A few minutes after George came, Ron appeared. A minute after Ron, Harry Potter hopped out of the Weasleys' fireplace.

Fred -Meredith could now tell the twins apart- immediately jumped on Harry with a question: "Did he eat it?"

"Yeah. What was that?" Harry replied.

"Ton-Tongue Toffee. George and I invented them and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer."

Meredith watched as Harry shook hands with Bill and Charlie and greeted Ginny and Hermione. _Yup_, she thought. _This is definitely the dude who came to my house in the middle of the night with Dumbledore._

Harry saw Meredith. He pointed at her, looking slightly confused with an expression that said, _I know you from somewhere but I don't know where from_. "It's Meredith, right?" he asked her.

"Yeah. And you're Harry Potter, right?"

"Yeah. How've you been? Liking the magical world?"

"It's awesome. I can't believe this whole universe existed right under peoples' noses. It's really cool."

Just then, Mr. Weasley stepped out of the fireplace saying, "That _wasn't funny,_ Fred! What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?"

"I didn't give him anything," Fred told his father, grinning. "I just _dropped_ it… It was his fault he went and ate it. I never told him to."

"You dropped it on purpose!" Mr. Weasley yelled. "You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet—"

"How big did his tongue get?" George asked eagerly.

"It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!"

_Whoa_, Meredith thought, making a mental note to never eat anything Fred or George gave her. The conversation went on with Mr. Weasley yelling at the twins, then Mrs. Weasley coming in, saying a sweet hello to Harry, and then making Mr. Weasley tell her what the twins had done.

The cue to leave was, "Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" At that point, Meredith left with Ginny, Hermione, Harry, and Ron and went up to Ron's room, where Harry would be sleeping.

"What are Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked as they climbed the stairs. Meredith had been wondering the same thing.

"Joke shop they're planning to start," Ron explained. "They've invented tons of stuff. Mum found their order forms when she was cleaning before Meredith got here. She was furious. Said they should go work at the Ministry of Magic like Dad. They told her all they wanted to do was open a joke shop."

Percy came out of his study door. "Would you mind being a little quieter, please? I'm trying to work. Oh, hello, Harry." Percy re-entered his room and slammed the door.

"O-kay," Harry said, and they kept walking.

"Percy's very focused on his work," Ginny explained.

"He's working on a report to standardize cauldron thickness. He's obsessed with his boss, Mr. Crouch, too. _Mr. Crouch this, Mr. Crouch that, Mr. Crouch says…_ They'll be announcing their engagement any day now."

Everyone laughed. Harry said, "Thanks for the food by the way. I would've starved to death without those cakes."

They spent the rest of the evening giving Harry news about what was happening in the wizard world: nothing much except Quidditch and a missing member of "beloved Mr. Crouch's" staff. They updated Harry on the Quidditch past scores for Bulgaria and Ireland, and expressed theories on who they thought would win.

Harry let each of them, even Meredith, ride on his state-of-the-art broomstick, the Firebolt. Meredith loved the broom. It responded to her every thought, almost. It balanced so perfectly she could have fallen asleep in the air, but she was wide awake and soon landed without falling.

* * *

**Note: I'm not an expert on British stuff. Sorry. I've never been there, or in any other country outside the USA. I want to go there, though. Thank you all for reading.  
**


	4. The Quidditch World Cup

**This chapter contains some text copied directly from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I do not own those parts. I own only the character Meredith.**

Chapter Four: The Quidditch World Cup

Monday morning came dark and early. Dark because it was early, and early because they needed to get to the Quidditch World Cup early. Meredith woke up at four in the morning to Mrs. Weasley shaking her and telling her it was time to get ready to leave.

Forty-five minutes later, Mrs. Weasley was kissing them all goodbye and glaring down at the twins, who had tried to smuggle out a whole bunch of Ton-Tongue Toffees.

Meredith, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Fred, George, Percy, Charlie, Bill, and Mr. Weasley walked to a hill on the far side of the town Ottery St. Catchpole, all dressed in Muggle clothing. At the top of the hill, they met a ruddy-faced wizard with a scrubby brown beard, holding a moldy beat-up old boot. With him was a younger, much more handsome young man about seventeen years old.

"Amos!" Mr. Weasley called.

"Arthur!" the man called Amos said, and they shook hands.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone. And this is Cedric?" Mr. Weasley shook hands with the handsome boy, who said hello to everyone.

Amos looked around at the crowd of kids. "All these yours, Arthur?"

"No, just the redheads and this one we've adopted." He put an arm around Meredith's shoulders. "This is Meredith and these are Hermione and Harry, Ron's friends."

"Harry _Potter?_"

"Yes."

"Ced's talked about you, of course. Told us all about playing against you last year, and winning!"

Cedric said, "Dad, Harry fell off his broom. I told you. It was an accident…"

"Must be nearly time," Mr. Weasley said quickly. "Are we waiting for any more, Amos?"

"No, I don't believe so."

"Alright. Yes, it's a minute off. Better get ready. You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all. A finger will do." Everyone crowded around the old boot and put a finger on it, trying to touch the mold with the least amount of skin. "Three…Two…One."

Meredith was spinning fast, like she had when Dumbledore had first brought her to the Burrow, only now she felt stretched out, not compressed. Her finger was stuck fast to the old boot.

And then she and the others slammed into the ground. She looked up to see Mr. Weasley, Mr. Diggory, and Cedric still standing by some miracle, though they did look quite windswept.

Meredith looked around. She was sitting on a misty moor. Two wizards were sitting a few feet away, dressed in mismatched Muggle clothing; one was in a kilt and a poncho, while the other was wearing a tweed suit with high-length galoshes.

"Hello, there, Arthur," the man in the tweed suit said.

"Morning, Basil," Mr. Weasley replied.

"Hang on, I'll find your campsite…Weasley…About a quarter mile's walk over there, first field you come to. Ask for Mr. Roberts. Diggory…second field, ask for Mr. Payne."

"Thanks, Basil." Mr. Weasley handed the Portkey to the wizard in the kilt and they walked off.

At the first field, Mr. Weasley consulted with Mr. Roberts, had Harry help him pay for the night's stay with Muggle money, and got the map of the campsite. They walked to their tent, which had a sign saying WEEZLY in front of it. One would think that because of the Harry Potter books, most people would be able to spell 'Weasley' correctly, but apparently that wasn't the case.

After much trouble and much help from Meredith, Hermione, and Harry, two two-person tents were put up. Meredith was wondering how they would all fit in these tents when Mr. Weasley showed them in.

Inside, the tent was the size of half a gymnasium with a ten-foot tall roof. It had a few sets of bunk beds, a full kitchen, a bathroom, and furniture. "I love magic," Meredith, Harry, and Hermione said together. It was true.

They spent the rest of the day looking at other tents and meeting people from the Ministry of Magic. They met Ludo Bagman, the head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, who was wearing his old England Wasps uniform from when he had played quidditch; it now stretched tight over his significantly larger belly. The twins bet all their savings with him that Ireland would win, but the Bulgarian seeker, Krum, would get the Snitch. They also met Percy's beloved Mr. Crouch; he was very strict-looking and called Percy "Weatherby." Percy's ears turned pink as everyone sniggered at the fact that the boss he admired so much didn't even know his correct name.

Finally, it was time to go to the stadium and find their seats. On their way to the top box, they saw advertisement signs that changed every five seconds, various stands selling Irish and Bulgarian colored items, and lots of Ministry officials. Meredith bought a green hat with a clover on it. Then they found their seats way up in the highest box, about the height of a twenty-story building.

A strange creature was sitting in the top box. It had huge ears and a brownish body a little like the goblins Meredith had briefly seen at Gringotts. It was wearing what looked like a small towel draped around its small body like a toga.

Harry said to the creature, "Dobby?"

"Did sir just call me Dobby?" the creature asked in a squeaky voice, opening its fingers to peek at Harry through eyes the size of tennis balls. The two kept talking for a while. Meredith picked up that this creature was a house elf named Winky, and she was saving a seat for her master. Dobby was another house elf that Harry had freed. Winky thought Dobby was crazy for wanting to be paid for his work.

They waited half an hour for the match to start, greeting people. Meredith got to meet the British and Bulgarian Ministers of Magic. Then a tall man with a thin face and long straight white-blond hair came into the box. With him was a slim woman, also with blond hair, with an expression on her face that said, _I just ate a lemon and I smell something revolting._ Behind them walked a boy, who had a pointed face and short blond hair that was combed back neatly and looked gelled. He was wearing a black suit.

The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, introduced them to the Bulgarian Minister. "And let's see who else," Fudge said. "You know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"

Mr. Weasley and the man with the long blond hair glared at each other. "Good lord, Arthur," the man said softly. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the top box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"

Meredith gaped at the rude comment. Harry grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face forward in her seat instead of facing the man. "Who are they?" she asked him in a whisper.

"The Malfoys. The man's Lucius, that's his wife Narcissa—who I only know because they introduced her a few minutes ago—and that guy's Draco. Don't go hanging around him at Hogwarts. He's a mean old prat. Last time Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley -er, your dad- met, they got into a fight because Mr. Malfoy was making fun of how little money they had. So they're permanent enemies."

Meredith looked over just in time to see Hermione and Mr. Malfoy glaring at each other. Mr. Malfoy stopped and began talking with Fudge again.

Harry responded to the confused look on Meredith's face when she turned to look at him. "Their whole family is really proud of being 'pureblood' and not having any Muggle blood in them. They hate Muggle-borns. Hermione has Muggle parents, so they consider her second-class, even though she's better at magic than Draco Malfoy could ever dream to be. Don't let them find out where you came from."

Meredith nodded in understanding and jumped as a man's voice echoed through the stadium, "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!" Meredith turned around to see who was speaking. It was Ludo Bagman, still wearing his old quidditch robes. She remembered that they had met him earlier that day at their campsite. He now had his wand pointed at his throat; Meredith figured it was to magnify his voice.

A huge chalkboard displayed: BULGARIA: 0, IRELAND: 0.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce… The Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

"I wonder what they've brought," Mr. Weasley said. "Aah! Veela!"

A hundred perfect blond women glided onto the field and started dancing. It was the weirdest thing Meredith had ever seen. She wished she could be as pretty as them, but with her dark knotted hair and blue-grey eyes and ugliness, she could never pass for a veela. She could never ever be anything like them, and nobody would ever like her...

_Wait,_ she thought. _What am I thinking? They're the ugly ones. Too perfect, too graceful. I'm glad I'm not like them. I look fine just the way I am._

"Harry, what _are_ you doing?" Hermione asked Harry as the music stopped and Meredith broke confidently out of the negative daze the music had put her in. She saw Harry standing with one leg over the top box railing, looking like he was about to jump into the air and fly. Ron was standing up, looking brave enough to challenge a bear with only his fists. Hermione pulled Harry back into his seat, shaking her head. "_Honestly!_"

Bagman continued speaking, "And now kindly put your wands in the air for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

A green and cold comet zoomed around the field and made a rainbow between the two top goalposts. The comet formed into a giant shamrock that soared over the stands, showering the people with gold coins. Meredith caught a few and pocketed them.

"Leprechauns!" Mr. Weasley shouted to them. Sure enough, the shamrock wasn't a comet, it was a bunch of little bearded men in green carrying lanterns and flying. The leprechauns sat down on their side of the field to watch the match.

Next, the teams were introduced. Meredith saw Ron clap loudly and cheer when Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker, came out onto the field.

It was the fastest game Meredith had ever seen; faster even than horse racing. Players were zooming at the speed of light around the field. Ludo Bagman almost couldn't keep up with announcing who had the Quaffle because by the time he had announced one name, a different person had it.

Then the game got dirty. Players fell out of the sky. Leprechauns laughed, and the veela turned into screeching flame-throwing bird people. The scoreboard read: BULGARIA: 10, IRELAND: 170 when Viktor Krum pulled into a steep dive, following the Irish seeker, Lynch, and caught the Snitch. The match was over.

"Ireland wins!" Bagman shouted. "Krum gets the Snitch, but Ireland wins!"

The players all came up to the top box to be congratulated. The Irish team received their award: a huge gold trophy. Though Meredith's hands hurt from clapping so much, she still did it. Fred and George got their bet money, and they all walked back down the stairs towards their campsite.


	5. The Dark Mark

**This chapter contains excerpts, mostly dialogue, copied directly from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I do not own those parts, only the ones you don't recognize.**

Chapter Five: The Dark Mark

Back in the larger tent, the group was laughing and talking about the match, drinking hot chocolate. Meredith had finished hers and was listening intently to the conversation, though she didn't understand more than half the terms used.

When Ginny fell asleep and spilled her hot chocolate all over the table, Mr. Weasley declared it time for bed. Meredith, Hermione, and Ginny went into their smaller tent while the boys stayed in the larger one.

Meredith crawled into her bunk without bothering to change into pajamas, and fell asleep very soon.

It seemed like only a few minutes later that Mr. Weasley threw open the tent flap and yelled, "Wake up, girls! It's an emergency!" As soon as Meredith heard that last part, she jumped out of bed and grabbed her backpack (now shrunken to normal capacity), which had a book and a change of clothes in it. She grabbed her wand off the bedside table. Then she put on her sweater, which was hanging on a chair beside her bed. Meredith put on her backpack and was ready to go. Ginny and Hermione were still pulling on jeans and T-shirts and jackets over their pajamas. Meredith stepped outside.

She heard screams and crashes. The celebrations had definitely stopped. Many of the tents were on fire. Meredith's eyes widened as she watched in horror. She ducked back into the tent and shouted, "Hurry!" to Ginny and Hermione, who were now walking towards the tent flap, zipping up their jackets. They walked the few feet to the boys' tent. The boys emerged, sleepy-looking. All of them except Mr. Weasley, Percy, Bill, and Charlie were still in their pajamas, wands sticking out of their pockets.

"We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley shouted above the noise. "You lot get into the woods, and _stick together_. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out." He and the other properly dressed ones sprinted away.

"C'mon," said Fred, grabbing Ginny's hand and starting to pull her toward the wood. George grabbed Meredith's hand after seeing the look of pure panic on her face. Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed them.

At the edge of the woods, they all looked back at the burning campsite. Meredith noticed a family of four floating in the air above a circle of hooded people in dark robes. Ministry wizards and witches were there, trying to let the family down, but also trying to keep them from falling.

They ran along the path through the trees. It was pitch-dark now that the lanterns were gone. Shouts and cries echoed through the woods. Other people on the path were pushing and shoving to get through. Meredith, being as skinny as she was, got pushed and squished a lot more than the others. There were times when her feet left the ground, but she held tightly to George's hand as they ran deeper and deeper into the woods. After a few minutes, once they were away from the crowds, they stopped running and all sat down together on the ground, letting go of each other's hands.

"_Lumos_," George said, and the tip of his wand lit up, illuminating a small clearing with a floor of old leaves and pine needles. "Whoa. Where's everyone else?"

"Probably got lost in the crowd," Ginny guessed. "I hope they're alright."

Meredith sat tensely with her knees pulled up to her chest, eyes wide and ears detecting for any different noise among the yells and screams. After a few minutes, the noise was all gone. All they could hear were the crickets chirping, and owls hooting, and every single little movement of every crawler in the forest…

"Is it safe yet?" Meredith asked.

"I think so," Fred said as he stood up.

"Nobody's screaming, so it should be fine," George said, standing up and extending a hand to help Meredith. Meredith took it. Fred did the same thing for Ginny, and the four of them began walking back the way they had come.

When they could see the edge of the forest, they came to a stop. The screams had begun again. People were running into the forest just like before, some disappearing into thin air with a pop, others just running for shelter deeper in the forest. Meredith, Ginny, Fred, and George all ducked behind trees to avoid being trampled. Gradually, the crowd thinned and the group was finally able to emerge from the trees. Tents were still smoking and everything was quiet. The family of four wasn't in the sky anymore; Meredith hoped they had gotten down safely. The hooded people and the Ministry officials were also gone.

They walked quickly to the tent. Bill, Charlie, Mr. Weasley, and Percy were already there. Mr. Weasley said, "Thank goodness you got back alright, what with _that_ in the sky." He indicated a large green cloud in the shape of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth and around its head.

"What's that?" Meredith asked, still looking at it.

"That's the Dark Mark," Charlie explained. Meredith noticed there was a large rip in Charlie's shirt. "It's You-Know-Who's symbol. Only Death Eaters can conjure it."

"Death _Eaters_?" People who _ate_ death didn't sound very menacing.

"Followers of You-Know-Who. They were the hooded masked people burning tents and levitating the campsite owners. Well, at least, we think it was them, or what's left of them. No other group of people would do that kind of thing to Muggles for fun. Not that we know of."

"But let's not just stand here outside. You look tired," Mr. Weasley said. "How far into the woods did you go, anyway? Never mind; just come inside."

They went into the larger tent after noticing that it had only been scorched a little and the smaller tent was unharmed. Once they were all seated with a mug of hot chocolate, Mr. Weasley asked them, "Where are Ron and Harry and Hermione?"

"Don't know," George answered him. "We lost them on our way into the woods."

Mr. Weasley got up and practically ran out of the tent. "I'm going to look for them."

And so Meredith was left in the tent with her family. Bill was holding a bed sheet to a bleeding cut in his arm and Percy was leaning his head back and pinching his nose a little below the bridge. Meredith sipped her hot chocolate while they all waited for Mr. Weasley to return.

He did, walking quickly, about twenty-five minutes later with Ron, Harry, and Hermione jogging along behind him.

Charlie poked his head out of the tent. "Dad, what's going on? Have you got the others?"

"I've got them right here," Mr. Weasley answered, entering the tent after Charlie had ducked back in.

"Did you get them, Dad? The person who conjured the Mark?" Bill asked.

"No," Mr. Weasley said. "We found Barty Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark."

"WHAT?" Bill, Charlie, and Percy said together. Percy looked absolutely horrified that "beloved Mr. Crouch's" elf might have conjured the Dark Mark.

"Winky? From the top box?" Meredith asked to clarify.

"Yup," Harry answered her.

"But she didn't do anything!" Hermione argued. "She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She must have found Harry's wand and picked it up and just happened to be at the place where the Dark Mark came from."

"What happened to Winky?" Meredith asked.

"Mr. Crouch dismissed her for running away from danger when she was supposed to stay, and for picking up a lost wand."

"Rightfully so," Percy said. "A wizard like Mr. Crouch can't afford a house elf who's going to run amok with a wand!"

"She didn't run amok!" Hermione shouted at Percy. They usually got along.

"So we came back here with Dad," Ron finished the story awkwardly. "The end."


	6. Packing Again

**Again, this chapter contains some material copied directly from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I do not own.**

Chapter Six: Packing Again

Nobody slept well the rest of that night, so everyone was exhausted and had dark circles under their eyes in the morning.

"Merry Christmas," Mr. Roberts told them as they were heading out of the campground. He looked a bit dazed.

"Big thing they had to make him forget," Mr. Weasley explained. "He'll be like that for a few more days." They all headed into the woods to go back to the Burrow by Portkey.

As soon as they walked in the door of the Burrow, Mrs. Weasley ran at them and pulled Fred and George into a tight hug. "Oh, boys! I never would have forgiven myself if something had happened to you and the last thing I had said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.L.s!" Mrs. Weasley let go of Fred and George and hugged Meredith so tightly that Meredith thought her ribs might all crack. "And Meredith! I'm so sorry you had to see that! Here only two weeks and already you've seen the Dark Arts!" She let go of Meredith. "I'm so glad everyone's all right!" Mrs. Weasley hugged her husband.

Meredith yawned. "Of course, you must all be tired," Mrs. Weasley said. "All that chaos; why, it's in the Daily Prophet." She indicated the newspaper on the kitchen table that had a large black and white photograph of the Dark Mark on the cover. Meredith first only glanced at the paper, and then she did a double take. She looked again and realized that the picture was _moving._ The Dark Mark in the picture was floating around above a forest, just like it had the previous night at the campground after the Quidditch World Cup. Meredith stared at it, wondering if her sleep-deprived eyes were playing tricks on her. They weren't. So Ginny hadn't been lying about the photos moving (which also meant that Fred and George had a picture of her falling off her broom over and over).

Mr. Weasley picked up the newspaper and scanned the article entitled _Scenes of Terror at the Quidditch World Cup_. "Who wrote this? It's all about the Ministry messing up and emphasizes the worst points of the story. Listen. _There are rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods. _Hmph." He continued looking through the article. As he scanned the whole thing again, he said, "Ah, Rita Skeeter. No wonder. Well, I'd best be off to work. The Ministry will need all the help they can get to sort this out."

"I'll come with you, Father," Percy said. "Mr. Crouch" –Meredith rolled her eyes— "will need me. Plus, I'll be able to deliver my cauldron report in person." Percy pulled out his wand and pointed it up the stairs. He flicked it once and a stack of papers flew down the staircase into his outstretched hand. _So he can do it too,_ Meredith thought to herself. _He can do magic without saying spells, just like I can._

"We'll be off, then," Mr. Weasley said, "just as soon as I change into robes." He walked to his bedroom.

"But Arthur, you're on holiday!" Mrs. Weasley protested, but she couldn't manage to convince Arthur Weasley that he should stay home. Meredith understood why he needed to go to work. The sign of You-Know-Who had terrified her, even though she hadn't realized it then. The man who was willing to kill a little baby was back. She wanted the Ministry to sort out the trouble as quickly as possible.

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry asked quickly. "Has Hedwig arrived with a letter for me?"

"Hedwig, dear? No…No, there hasn't been any post at all."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. Then Harry said, "Mind if I go dump my stuff in your room, Ron?"

"Yeah…Think I will, too," Ron said immediately. "Hermione?"

"Yes," Hermione said almost too quickly, and the three of them marched up the stairs to Ron's attic room.

_They're up to something,_ Meredith thought. She yawned again. "I'm going up to bed," she announced, and marched up the stairs after Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Meredith's room was right under Ron's, so she could hear people walking around in there. She heard a door close, then some undecipherable speech. The last thing Meredith heard before she fell asleep was the dull thumping of three pairs of feet going down the stairs.

Over the next week, Meredith was taught how to play wizard's chess (which she thought was violent but cool), learned what a Howler was (an envelope that exploded and shouted the contents of the letter at you if you didn't open it right away; Mr. Weasley, Percy, and the rest of the Ministry had been getting a lot of those lately), and played more Quidditch. She savored the last of her summer vacation, which was much longer than that of the others! They had all gotten out of school on July first and went back on September first, exactly two months later. Meredith had gotten out of school nearly a month before the others had.

On the Thursday before the start of school, Mrs. Weasley took Meredith to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to get Meredith's asthma cured. They entered by speaking to a store dummy in a closed store. Meredith could've sworn she'd seen the dummy blink. Then they walked _through_ the wall. Meredith closed her eyes as she passed through what should have been solid glass and brick. She opened them to find herself inside a large waiting room. Many of the people there were odd-looking, some with elephant ears and others with extra-long necks. Meredith guessed they had been the victims of several magical accidents.

Meredith and Mrs. Weasley walked up to the counter behind which a bespectacled blond witch in white robes sat reading a magazine. Mrs. Weasley gave a little cough and the witch looked up at her and Meredith.

"An appointment for Meredith Weasley at eleven o'clock?" the witch asked, shuffling through some papers on her desk and then pulling one out.

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley answered.

"Fourth floor, second ward on the left, room 403. They should be waiting for you."

"Thank you."

The witch handed them the piece of paper and went back to reading her magazine. Meredith and Mrs. Weasley walked toward the brass-gated elevator and stepped in. "Uh, Mum, what are they going to do to me?" Meredith asked once the doors of the lift had closed and they had started going up. She still had an American accent, but called Mrs. Weasley 'mum' anyway.

"They'll probably give you a potion to stop your asthma permanently. You weren't born with it, Professor Dumbledore tells me. You probably accidentally performed magic when you were small and made yourself sick. It may take a spell or two to fix as well, but I doubt it. Don't worry, dear."

The lift stopped on the fourth floor and they both got out. They went through the second door on the left into a ward with a complicated name that Meredith didn't even try to pronounce. They turned into room 403, where they found a tall wizard waiting for them. The wizard popped out of his chair when he saw them come through the door.

"Meredith?" the wizard asked, pulling out his wand.

"Yes?" Meredith said. She was a bit frightened. She had always been a little scared of doctors, but this was way different. She was in a building with no quick fire escape and if she did need to run, there was no way she could find her way back through that maze of doors. She doubted there would be a fire or that she would need to run, but it was still a very enclosed space.

"Good," the wizard said. "Now, you are here for accidentally causing your own lung disorder?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Madam," he addressed Mrs. Weasley, "I am going to need you to stand back, preferably against the wall, just for safety. Thank you."

_Safety?_ Meredith thought. _Is this not safe or something? I hope this isn't dangerous._

"I will begin with a series of spells now, Meredith."

Meredith nodded and looked at Mrs. Weasley for support. Mrs. Weasley nodded. The wizard raised his wand, drawing circles and triangles and ovals and figure-eights in the air with a blue vapor and mumbling words, the only of which Meredith caught was 'finite'. She guessed it meant 'finish' in Latin or some other romance language, and she hoped it meant to finish her ailment rather than to finish _her_.

"Now exhale and then breathe in as deeply as possible," the wizard instructed her. She obeyed. All the figures in blue smoke filled her lungs and head; they made her dizzy for a second. "Breathe out." As Meredith exhaled, she felt as if she were exhaling all the contents of her sinuses and all the obstruction in her lungs. Her whole body felt refreshed. Her nose was clearer than it had ever been, and her lungs didn't feel at all tight. She blinked a few times.

"Better?" the wizard asked.

"Very much," Meredith told him.

"Good!" The wizard picked up a cup of liquid the color the vapor had been. "Drink this. All of it." He handed the cup to Meredith. She took a large gulp of it.

At first, the potion tasted like water, and then it was the mintiest flavor in the world, like filling your mouth with a hundred mint Icebreakers. But Meredith managed to swallow it. She drained the rest of the cup quickly and the breath mint sensation faded. She handed the cup back to the wizard.

"There. Done. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Not at all."

"You may go now."

"Thank you," Meredith told the wizard, and she and Mrs. Weasley went out the door, out of the ward, and back into the lift. They went back up to the front desk and Meredith paid the witch there the ten Knuts the paper said she owed for her visit, then walked out of the door to the London sidewalk in front of a closed shop. None of the Londoners seemed to notice that two people had just come right out of the wall.

"Feeling better?" Mrs. Weasley asked Meredith as they walked to the place where they had stowed their broomsticks. (Both of them were in Muggle clothing, though.)

"Yeah. A lot clearer. I can even _see_ better than I could." She smiled, showing her bracketed teeth.

"Oh, dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "When we get back I'll have to do something about those…um, those…"

"Braces?"

"Yes, thank you. We can straighten your teeth in other ways."

"Then why does Hermione have braces?"

"Her parents are dentrusts."

"Um, dentists?"

"Yes, that They do not approve of straightening teeth with magic, and would certainly not want Hermione to do it herself. Oh, well."

They finally came to the small alleyway where their broomsticks were hidden in a clean empty dumpster. The alleyway was practically right on the Thames, so they flew low over the water, up the side of the bridge tower, and then sped into the sky. They were in luck, for it had rained a few moments before and clouds were still present low in the sky. Meredith flew fast through the clouds on the Comet Two-Sixty broomstick from the broom shed at the Burrow. She was starting to love this broom. She officially decided she loved flying this freely. Being on an airplane in a seat was different. Here there was no turbulence, only freedom.

They reached the Burrow a while later, put their brooms in the shed, and went into the house. They found everyone sitting inside reading, playing chess, or talking. It had started to rain outside again.

"Now then. Here we go," Mrs. Weasley said as she pulled out a stool and indicated for Meredith to sit on it. "Now open your mouth; show all your teeth. Don't look so afraid, Meredith. This won't hurt a bit. You might feel a twinge, but that will be all." Meredith did as Mrs. Weasley told her to and closed her eyes. She peeked through her lashes enough to see Mrs. Weasley pull out her wand, then shut her eyes tight again. She felt stupid sitting there smiling like a kindergartener who thinks smiling is just showing teeth. She felt a tap on all her teeth, then a small twist on each one. "There," Mrs. Weasley said. Meredith closed her mouth, opened her eyes, and felt each one of her teeth with her tongue. The brackets and wires were all gone. Her teeth were all perfectly smooth and aligned.

"Thanks, Mum," she said.

Meredith spent all of that Tuesday reading all her textbooks again and retaining as much information as possible from them. She didn't want to start off so behind that she had to learn every little thing in only a year. She discovered, as she had while reading the books for the first time, that reading textbooks had never been so interesting before. Textbooks in Muggle America were boring, dull, and full of information she hadn't wanted to learn. These textbooks were exciting and told of adventures and beings that Meredith had only dreamed existed. Some of them were much like informational epic novels.

She spent the entire day Wednesday packing all her clothes and things into Mrs. Weasley's old school trunk. Mrs. Weasley had washed all of everybody's clothes the previous day and that morning. She delivered them to everyone's rooms around ten o'clock. Meredith packed all her school robes, shirts, skirts, school pants, socks, hats (one knitted cap and the pointed black hat), dress, toiletries, two pairs of jeans, two T-shirts, all her underwear, sneakers, running shoes, school books, wooden fife, and non-embarrassing pajamas with a robe. She set out one of her school skirts, a school shirt, and her school shoes to wear the next day; she had heard they would be changing into school uniforms on the train and didn't want to have too much to do. Also, Ginny had taught her to tie a tie, as that was part of the school uniform. She would be using the family's hand-me-down black school tie for the first day. After that, she would receive her own tie with her house colors on it.

In the backpack Dumbledore had given her (which she would be using to carry her schoolwork because it looked much like the others' backpacks), she packed all her parchment, quill pens, and wand. She re-opened her trunk and put the inkbottles in-between clothes, making sure they were sealed tight. The pens and parchment would be squished if she put them in her trunk, but the ink couldn't be. Meredith didn't worry about bringing a million pots of ink; she was told there were free full bottles in each common room, along with spare quills and parchment.

Meredith opened her trunk one last time and made room for her cauldron and potions kit. She put her heavy gloves, phials, telescope, and scales inside the cauldron with some socks for cushioning. Everything fit very neatly.

Lastly, Meredith pulled her moneybag out of the bottom of a filing cabinet of her desk and put some of it in her backpack, and most of it in the sack in her trunk. She finally closed the lid of her trunk, buckled the flap on her backpack, and went downstairs.

Everyone was in the kitchen and living room; it was raining outside again. In the fireplace was a roaring fire, and still, the little room was chilly.

Mrs. Weasley called them together for an excellent supper of homemade chicken soup with buttered bread. Every meal here had been better than anything else Meredith had ever had.

Right as they finished, Percy walked in the door and sat down. "What an uproar!" he said importantly. "I've been putting out fires all week. People keep sending Howlers, and of course, if you don't open a Howler straight away, it explodes. Scorch marks all over my desk and my best quill reduced to cinders." He began to eat from the bowl of soup Mrs. Weasley had just put in front of him. Everyone else was reading or doing other things. Ginny was fixing a book with tape; Hermione was reading _The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 4_; Harry was polishing his Firebolt; Ron was playing chess with Charlie; Fred and George sat in the corner talking over a piece of parchment, quills out. Meredith had brought down her laptop computer and was listening to music while watching everyone else. It would be hard for her to go a whole school year without listening to her music. At least she would have her fife with her. Maybe she could go someplace quiet on a Saturday and just play.

Meredith didn't catch the rest of Percy's spiel about the Ministry because of a particularly loud part in the song she was listening to, but the next thing she heard was Mrs. Weasley exploding at Percy, "Don't you dare blame your father for what that wretched Skeeter woman wrote!"

Bill said, "If Dad hadn't said anything, old Rita would have just said it was disgraceful that nobody from the Ministry had commented. Rita Skeeter never makes anyone look good. Remember, she interviewed all the Gringotts Charm Breakers once, and called me a 'long-haired pillock'?"

"Well, it _is_ a bit long, dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "If you'd just let me—"

"NO, Mum."

"Fine. But that reminds me, Meredith, those bangs are getting a bit long. How on earth do you manage to see?"

Meredith shrugged her shoulders.

"Come, we'll trim them." Mrs. Weasley pulled a comb and some scissors out of thin air with her wand. _Uh-oh,_ Meredith thought. She'd had bad experiences with home haircuts before and on one particular occasion, had ended up wearing her bangs up in pins for a month. She hated having pins in her hair. A ponytail would have been better, but that couldn't have contained her crooked bangs. Meredith took the ear buds out of her ears, put the laptop down on the floor, and stood up.

Mrs. Weasley sent the scissors and comb floating towards Meredith and they began combing and trimming her bangs to the perfect length above her eyes. While the scissors and comb did their work, Mrs. Weasley looked in the corner, saw Fred and George there, and asked sharply, "What are you two up to?"

"Homework," Fred replied flatly.

"Don't be ridiculous! You're still on holiday!"

"Yeah, we've left it a bit late," said George.

"You're not by any chance writing out a new _order form,_ are you? You wouldn't be thinking of re-starting Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, would you?" She saw that the scissors had finished snipping and waved her wand at them and the comb. Both of them disappeared.

"Now, Mum," Fred said, looking up at her with a pained look on his face. "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow, and George and I died, how would you feel to know that the last thing we ever heard from you was an unfounded accusation?"

Meredith couldn't help laughing, and neither could anyone else. Mrs. Weasley looked up at the clock that told where everyone in the family was, and said, "Oh, your father's coming!" Meredith watched the clock hand with Mr. Weasley's name on it go from 'Work' and stop on 'Traveling' for half a second. Then it moved to 'Home' just as Mr. Weasley himself walked in the door. He looked completely exhausted. He sat down at the kitchen table and Mrs. Weasley put a bowl of hot soup in front of him.

"Well, the fat's really in the fire now," he told everyone. "Rita Skeeter's been ferreting around all week, looking for more Ministry mess-ups to report. And now she's found out poor old Bertha's gone missing, so that'll be the headline in the Prophet tomorrow. I _told_ Bagman he should have sent someone to go look for her ages ago."

"Mr. Crouch"—_ugh,_ Meredith thought—"has been saying it for weeks and weeks," Percy said.

"Crouch is very lucky Rita hasn't found out about Winky," Mr. Weasley said irritably. The conversation continued with Percy defending Mr. Crouch, and Hermione criticizing Mr. Crouch for not treating Winky fairly.

Before the discussion got too heated, Mrs. Weasley said, "I think you'd all better go upstairs and check that you've packed properly! Come on, now, all of you…"

Everyone packed up what they were doing and went upstairs to their rooms. Meredith closed her laptop, picked it up, and walked up the stairs with the others.

Even though she had done the same thing twice already, Meredith unpacked her trunk all the way and re-packed it, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. She looked through her whole school letter this time, instead of just equipment lists, and noticed a paper entitled _Hogsmeade Visit Student Permission Form._ She went back downstairs to get it signed.

"Is it still going to go on this year, Arthur?" Mrs. Weasley was asking her husband. She immediately became silent when she saw Meredith standing in the doorway. "What is it, Meredith?"

"Um, I need this form signed, I guess," Meredith told her, and put the paper on the table. Mrs. Weasley whipped out a pen, signed the paper, and handed it back to Meredith, who had no idea what Hogsmeade was, but guessed that it couldn't be bad if her parents had signed the permission slip allowing her to go there. She also had no idea what was going on that year that Mrs. Weasley was so worried about.

Meredith hurried back up to her room. She re-read all the slips of paper about her meeting with Dumbledore that Saturday, that she would be sorted into a House with the first-years, and the school rules, the only one of which she had never heard in school before was 'no magic in the corridors.' She would get her class schedule on the first day of the term, along with a map of the whole school; the staircases at Hogwarts periodically changed, so where you were able to go up stairs one day to get somewhere, the next day it might lead you somewhere completely different. Other than that, there wasn't much else Meredith would need to know on the first day. She found out from simply reading her equipment list again that third years and above were permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. The shops in Hogsmeade contained pranks, school supplies, sweets, and other things that were only available to Londoners in Diagon Alley.

After reading through all her papers, Meredith decided that going to Hogwarts to learn magic would be wonderful and amazing. She then practiced writing with a quill pen for the next hour, and only stopped because her hand started to cramp up. She wondered how wizards could manage to take notes quickly if they were forever dipping their quills in ink. After that hour of writing, Meredith appreciated Muggle pens much more.

Meredith looked at the clock; it was already 9:30. The time had flown by so quickly she hadn't even noticed. She brushed her teeth and got ready for bed, wondering what it would be like to learn magic every day instead of math and English and history. Would it be fun? Would it be difficult or easy? Would she be good at it? Had Fred jinxed them? _Was_ the Hogwarts Express going to crash like Fred had said it might?

Even with all these questions floating through her brain, Meredith fell asleep less than half an hour after she lay down.


	7. Hogwarts

**This chapter contains parts copied directly from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Those parts do not belong to me.**

Chapter Seven: Hogwarts

Meredith woke up early the next morning, dressed, and waited for the time they were to leave for the King's Cross train station in London. A few minutes after she had begun waiting, she realized it might be a good idea to bring her trunk down from her room. She walked back up the stairs quietly, so as not to disturb the others, who were still sleeping. Meredith hauled her trunk down the stairs as quietly as possible. She went back up to get her backpack and checked the room one last time for anything she might have forgotten.

She looked at the pictures on her shelf. Pictures of her Muggle family. She missed them. But they didn't miss her. They couldn't miss someone they had never known. Meredith wished she had gone to a library with Internet connection to check her email for a reply from her friends. They probably thought she _had_ been kidnapped and was forced to write that note. Yup, that was something Marae would think of. _Or_ they might have just forgotten about her, never thinking, _Oh, I wish Meredith were still here_, or, _I miss Meredith._ What if they _had_ forgotten about her? She would find out next summer when she checked her email.

She walked downstairs again. She was all ready to go, but everyone else was still asleep. She opened her letter for the hundredth time that week and looked at her ticket for the train called the Hogwarts Express. The ticket said they would be leaving from platform nine and three quarters at eleven o'clock sharp. Meredith didn't know if platform nine and three quarters existed or where, but she figured the Weasleys would show her the way since she had never been to Hogwarts before. She guessed that the platform would be behind or between a solid brick wall like Diagon Alley and St. Mungo's had been. Wherever it was, she was sure the Weasleys would get her there.

Just then, Mrs. Weasley walked into the kitchen all dressed and ready. "Well, you're up early," she said to Meredith, waving her wand to make a frying pan hop onto the stove. She got out some sausages and eggs, which hopped into the hot pan and began cooking.

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep any longer."

"Excited?"

"Very."

"You'll love Hogwarts, I think. Now I'd better go wake the others." She went upstairs, and then came back a few minutes later. She got a fire going in the fireplace just as Ginny and Hermione came down the stairs. Mrs. Weasley set a plate of eggs and sausage in front of each of the three girls, then got forks. She looked at the fireplace for a second, then looked back at it again and screeched. Meredith looked at the fire. There, clear as day, was a man's head among the flames. It looked a bit like Mr. Diggory, whom they had met on their way to the Quidditch World Cup.

"Sorry I scared you, Molly," the head said. "Could you get Arthur, please? It's urgent from the Ministry!"

"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley called up the stairs to her husband. "Arthur! Urgent message from the Ministry!"

Mr. Weasley came running down the stairs, past the boys, who had obviously woken up only a few seconds before, and into the kitchen where he grabbed a piece of parchment off a shelf and began searching for a quill. Meredith quickly took a quill from her backpack and handed it to her adoptive father just as Mrs. Weasley handed him an inkpot. Mr. Weasley prepared to take notes and stood in front of the fire, scribbling away.

All Meredith heard of Mr. Diggory's fast speech was something about dustbins and a mad eye. She had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. Then Mrs. Weasley grabbed a piece of toast with the fire tongs and stuffed it into Mr. Diggory's mouth. He thanked her and vanished.

Mr. Weasley hurriedly said goodbye to everyone there and told them all to have a good term. "Hope you like Hogwarts, Meredith," he said before turning to his wife and asking, "Molly, are you going to be alright taking the kids to King's Cross?"

"Of course I will," Mrs. Weasley replied. "You just look after mad eye, we'll be fine." Mr. Weasley nodded and vanished with a pop, just as Bill and Charlie entered the room and sat down, tearing into their breakfast like the other boys were.

"Did somebody say Mad-Eye?" Bill asked. "What's he been up to now?" Meredith guessed that Mad-Eye was the nickname of a wizard.

"He said someone tried to break into his house last night," Mrs. Weasley explained to them. From the next few moments' conversation, Meredith learned that Mad-Eye Moody was a wizard who used to be a dark wizard catcher working for the Ministry of Magic, but had retired and now people called him crazy, or mad.

It had started to rain outside by the time everyone, except Percy, who claimed he had work to do, had gotten to the village of Ottery St. Catchpole and hailed three Muggle taxis to take them all to King's Cross station all the way in London. The drivers did not look happy when they saw the seven heavy trunks (which Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie had gotten there by magic) that had to be loaded into the taxis, along with two owls and a cat.

The journey was long and uncomfortable with all of them crowded into the taxi seats with their trunks at their feet (at least, the ones that hadn't fit in the back compartments of the cars).

They were all very relieved to arrive at King's Cross Station, even though the rain was pouring down harder than Meredith had ever seen it rain before. It wasn't a cold rain, so Meredith was fine in her knee-length skirt. All of them were soaked after only dashing across the road to the station entrance.

It was only 10:30, so they had plenty of time to get to the train. Meredith followed everyone else because they all seemed to know the station better than she did. They passed by a group of Muggle tourists taking pictures of themselves with a luggage cart sticking halfway out of a wall. They never would have suspected that real wizards had just walked right past them.

They all stopped by a brick wall of a pillar that held up the building and also divided platforms nine and ten. "Harry, Ron, Hermione, you three go first," Mrs. Weasley said. The three whose names she had called out stood casually against the wall and slipped right through it, just as Meredith had predicted they might.

"Ginny, Meredith, Bill, you go next."

Meredith adjusted her backpack straps and picked up the handle of her rolling trunk. She thought about how stupid she must look to the Muggles, standing there in a skirt with a brown backpack and a _trunk_. Nobody used trunks anymore. Oh, well. She would probably never see any of these people ever again. Meredith cautiously walked closer to the bricks with Ginny and Bill. She looked back at Mrs. Weasley a little fearfully. Mrs. Weasley just nodded her head.

"Just lean through the wall," Bill told her. Meredith got right next to the wall and leaned against it, only to find that it wasn't solid at all.

She sort of fell through the barrier, like a person would fall if they thought they were about to lean on a wall, but there wasn't actually a wall where they thought there was. That is, in fact, exactly what happened. Meredith had expected at least _some_ solidity of the wall, but there was none. Meredith's trunk fell with her and tripped Ginny and Bill when they came out of the wall.

"Sorry," Meredith apologized, getting up, dusting herself off, and picking up her trunk by the handle. Just as they moved out of the way, Fred, George, Charlie, and Mrs. Weasley stepped through the barrier.

"Are you alright?" Mrs. Weasley asked Meredith, who was still dusting the dirt off of her skirt.

"Yeah. Fine. Just had a little, uh, spill. Didn't expect the barrier to be that, er, walk-throughable," Meredith told her.

Mrs. Weasley looked at the clock on the wall and said, "Good. Fifteen minutes left. Better go get a compartment and put your things in there. Go on."

They all walked along a scarlet train to find a seat. They soon found an empty compartment and settled in, stuffing their trunks into a luggage rack above the seats. Meredith got help with her trunk from Fred, who was almost a foot taller than she was. Then the group got back out of the train to say their goodbyes.

"I might be seeing you sooner than you think," said Charlie, grinning, as he hugged Ginny goodbye.

"Why?" Fred asked keenly.

"You'll see," said Charlie. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it…it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it' after all."

"Yeah, you're going to have an interesting year," said Bill, looking at the train and sighing. "I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year. I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it."

"A bit of what?" said Ron.

But at that moment, the whistle blew, and Mrs. Weasley quickly hugged and kissed Meredith and chivvied them all towards the train doors. They closed the doors of their two compartments and put their heads out of the windows.

"Goodbye," they all waved as Mrs. Weasley said, "Goodbye. See you all at Christmas, unless you all want to stay for the holidays at Hogwarts with…one thing or another."

"Mum!" Meredith said irritably. "What do you three know that we don't?"

"You'll find out this evening, I expect," said Mrs. Weasley, smiling. "It's going to be very exciting—mind you, I'm very glad they changed the rules—"

"What rules?" all the boys except Bill and Charlie said together.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you… Now behave, won't you? _Won't_ you, Fred? And you, George?" The train began to move. "Have a great first year, Meredith! Enjoy yourselves! All of you! Goodbye!"

"Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts!" Fred bellowed out the window as Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie sped away from them. Meredith continued to wave until they disappeared into thin air.

The train rounded a corner and rain began to fall in bucketfuls through the window, which they quickly closed.

They sat in silence for about an hour as each of the girls read, while Fred and George wrote on the same piece of parchment they had been working on for a month.

Meredith was re-reading her Hogwarts papers and textbooks (which she fetched out of her trunk with a little help from George) for the seemingly millionth time. The rain got louder as they went on and the outside world became darker. Half an hour into their journey, the lights in all the compartments and the hallway came on.

The scenery outside, which gradually became blurrier and blurrier because of the rain, turned into countryside and rolling hills and mountains. An hour into the train ride, Fred and George announced that they were going to sit with some friends, and left the compartment. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were already in their own separate compartment. Fifteen minutes later, a girl with long blond hair and radish earrings came into their compartment.

"Hi, Luna," Ginny greeted the girl cheerfully, putting her book down and patting the seat next to her. The girl sat down.

"Hello, Ginny," the girl said a bit dazedly. She looked directly at Meredith. "I'm Luna Lovegood. Who are you?"

"I'm Meredith. Weasley," she said.

"Are you new? You can't be in first year. Are you in third year with us?" Luna asked. Then she said to Ginny, "I didn't know you had a sister, Ginny."

"Um, yeah, I'm new. Fourth year. Adopted."

"Are you from America?"

"Yeah."

"Just out of curiosity, why don't you go to a school in Canada, then? There aren't any schools in the United States, but the closest one to California, where I think you're from, is in Montreal. Did you transfer here from there?"

_So many questions!_ And Meredith herself didn't know the answers to half of them. How could Luna tell she was from California, anyway? "I don't know why I don't go to school in Canada. I've never gone to any other school of magic before. I didn't even know I was a witch until about a month ago when Dumbledore came to my house in the middle of the night and told me."

"I see." Luna stopped asking questions, turned her magazine upside down, and put on some funky-looking glasses with rainbow swirls for lenses. All of them went back to their reading.

A few minutes later, an old woman came pushing a cart full of sandwiches and candy. "Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked.

"Three chocolate frogs and three cauldron cakes, please," Ginny said to the woman. She stood up and handed the lady a few coins. The woman took the coins and handed Ginny three pentagon-shaped boxes and three little cauldron-shaped cupcakes. Ginny thanked the woman and sat back down, handing one pentagon box and one cauldron cupcake to Meredith, and the same to Luna. Each of them said thank you to Ginny.

Meredith opened the pentagon-shaped chocolate frog box first, and out hopped a real _chocolate frog_. Meredith stared at it. She had never really been one for reptiles or amphibians. The chocolate frog was now croaking and sitting on her knee; Meredith wondered if she would be able to eat it if it was like this.

Ginny must have seen the look on Meredith's face, because she pulled out her wand and tapped Meredith's frog, which stopped croaking and moving. "Thanks," Meredith told her.

"No problem. I can't eat them when they're like that either," Ginny replied, and tapped her own chocolate frog with her wand.

The chocolate frog was the best chocolate Meredith had ever tasted; it was perfectly milky and not too sweet and not too bitter. Meredith found a pentagon-shaped card inside the box. It had a picture of a moving wizard on it, and said:

_NICHOLAS FLAMEL (1407-2009)_

_Inventor of the Philosopher's Stone, which produces the Elixir of Life. The last Stone was destroyed in 2009._

Meredith thought the card was incredibly cool, sort of like a spy decoder ring in a box of cereal, only better. She tucked the card into a pocket of her bag.

The cauldron cake wasn't moving like the frog had been. It was very tasty, almost like shortcake, but with more nutritional value. And that was their lunch.

They sat for another few hours, occasionally being visited by Ginny's friends, who sometimes would stay an hour. It grew gradually darker outside as the day wore on. When the pair of friends they had been chatting with for half an hour left, Luna announced that they would be arriving at Hogsmeade station soon and should change into school uniforms.

While Ginny and Luna went to the bathrooms to change, Meredith pulled her robes, an oiled waterproof cloak, and a pair of stockings out of her trunk and put them on. She found they were much warmer than she thought they would be, and took off the cloak and set it on the seat next to her. She was comfortably warm this way.

A few minutes later, just as Meredith was finishing tying her tie, Luna and Ginny came back from the bathrooms in their school robes.

Meredith noticed that Luna was wearing a different colored tie than Ginny was. Luna's had two different shades of blue stripes while Ginny's had red and gold stripes. "What house are you in?" Meredith asked Luna. She knew about Gryffindor; all the Weasleys had been in Gryffindor.

"I'm in Ravenclaw," Luna replied. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."

"Is that the motto?"

"Yes. Ravenclaws are chosen for their ability to think, otherwise known as wit."

Meredith wondered if she might be in Ravenclaw. She was smart and had always gotten A's and B's in school. "Are there other houses, besides Ravenclaw and Gryffindor?" she asked.

"Oh, yes. Hufflepuff is where the hard workers go, and Slytherin is for the mean people whose parents are Death Eaters," Luna replied a little too calmly and cheerfully.

Meredith hoped desperately that she wouldn't be in Slytherin, but doubted that she would be; she wasn't mean at all. She wondered about Hufflepuff; she was a hard worker. And Gryffindor, which her family had told her all about. Well, there was no chance of her getting into Gryffindor; she wasn't brave at all, and would jump out of her seat the second she saw a tiny lizard, even if it was a few feet away. "Hmm."

Soon the train began to slow down and came to a stop next to a lit train station.

"Attention students," a voice that Meredith assumed was the conductor said. "We have arrived at Hogsmeade station. Please exit the train and watch your step. Leave all your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately. Thank you."

Meredith rushed to stuff the rest of her books into her trunk and put her cloak on. It was still pouring outside. She and Ginny and Luna stepped outside carefully, trying not to slip and fall on the slick, wet pavement.

Meredith tucked her school envelope into an inside pocket of her robes and walked forward. To her left, through the rain she saw a giant man carrying a lantern and shouting, "Firs' years this way! Firs' years follow me!" Remembering that she was supposed to go with the first years to be sorted into her house, Meredith headed towards the giant man, where she towered over a bunch of frightened eleven-year-olds. The rest of the students were heading towards a long line of horseless carriages and scrambling into them.

The giant man led all the first years to a dock with many small boats tied there. The man got into one, which he filled up on his own and said, "Righ' now. No more 'n four to a boat. Come on."

Meredith fell into a line with the first years, attracting strange glances that said, _You're _not_ a first year like us. You _can't_ be._ Of course, the giant man was attracting strange looks from everyone, too, but those looks didn't say the same thing.

Meredith eventually got into a boat with a skinny, overexcited boy with mousy hair, a very short girl with very long hair, and the girl's friend who was about the same height and wore glasses.

Everyone was sopping wet by the time they were halfway across the lake. The boy sitting next to Meredith looked over the edge of the boat curiously and fell in. Meredith gasped and moved toward to boy's side of the boat to help him back in. A long, grey, thick tentacle grabbed the boy and shoved him back toward the boat, in reach of Meredith, who quickly helped him back in. He was just a tiny bit wetter than the rest of them, but apparently much colder.

When they reached the dock at the other side of the lake, the giant man saw the boy shivering and gave the boy his moleskin overcoat; it was huge on the boy and dragged on the floor. Meredith looked around. All the first years looked very scared and wet. The sound of fifty pairs of squelching shoes echoed through the room as the giant man led them up some stairs and through a wooden door into the warmth of Hogwarts castle.

They heard thunder and saw the flash of lightning; the flow of students going through the door quickened. The group went up a flight of stairs. In a minute, and old-looking witch, just as wet as they, came to the front and announced, "Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall. The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but only after you have all been sorted into your houses. Your house will be like your family during your time at Hogwarts. You and your house will all have classes together, sleep in your house dormitories, and spend time in your house common room together. The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Triumphs will earn your house points and rule breaking will lose your house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will win the House Cup. I will come back for you here when it is time for the Sorting ceremony to begin."

Everyone began wringing out their cloaks and robes as soon as Professor McGonagall left. The first years muttered nervously until the professor came back and told them, "It is time." She led them into the Great Hall, a roll of parchment in her hand.

Meredith looked around the vast room. There were four long tables with the house banner floating above each, and ghosts drifted in and out of the walls. Candles floated in midair above and near the tables. As they walked between two of the house tables along the aisle in the center of the room, Meredith looked up and noticed that the ceiling was thunder storming. No rain was falling all the way to the floor, but the ceiling looked just like the sky outside; Meredith thought this was incredible.

Meredith looked nervously at all the people staring at her group. Some were whispering behind their hands and looking at her, but they quickly averted their eyes when she looked at them. _Probably wondering why I'm not eleven like the rest of these kids,_ Meredith figured as she turned to look forward again. They were headed towards the front of the hall, near the teachers' table where all the professors (each one distinct-looking) sat quietly waiting for the Sorting to begin.

It occurred to Meredith that she had never thought of _how_ they were going to be sorted. Would they each be taken somewhere for an interview? Or, worse, would they be interviewed in front of the whole school? Would Dumbledore be able to simply look at them and tell which house they belonged in?

Professor McGonagall put a stool at the front of the room, and a ragged old hat on the stool. The whole hall waited in silence. Meredith stood, wondering what everyone was waiting for. Suddenly, a tear near the brim of the hat opened and the hat started singing.

The hat sang about the founders of Hogwarts and what they were like and how the students now would be sorted. They would each put on the hat and it would tell them which house they belonged in. By that time, Meredith was getting very nervous.

Professor McGonagall unrolled the parchment she was holding and said, "When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool. When the hat announces your House, you will go and sit at the appropriate table. Ackley, Stuart!"

A boy put on the hat and sat down on the stool. Meredith was relieved that she wasn't going first since they were going in alphabetical order by last name. She would be close to the end. Weasley. She hoped she wouldn't be last. Meredith never liked being first because she set the example, nor did she like being last because everyone remembered the last clearest.

After "Quirke, Orla!" was called, Meredith began to hope _desperately_ that she wouldn't be last or next. She just wasn't ready. She wanted to run out of the room and sit on her own until she was ready to face the crowd of students and be judged in front of them all. When the professor called, "Weasley, Meredith," she stood there for a second before getting up her courage and walking up to the hat.

She was aware of everyone's eyes on her and tried hard not to trip on the tile steps, slick from everyone else's wet shoes. She tried not to think of their whispers about the tall (compared to the other kids), awkward girl who couldn't possibly be a first year, but was being sorted.

Meredith picked up the hat from the stool where Orla Quirke had left it, and put it on her head, sitting down quickly.

The hat slipped over her eyes, but just barely, so if she looked down she could see everyone's feet. She preferred looking at the hat's brown scratchy material.

"Ah, finally!" a voice said in her ear. Meredith's only guess was that it was the hat talking to her. "I've been waiting for you for three years, Meredith, but you have not come until now. Your father hid you well. Let's see now. There is Slytherin blood in your family. But also there is cleverness, intelligence, and perhaps a little boldness and cheek. Nerve and courage, too. Why, you would do well in _any_ house!" The hat chuckled. _Just _sort_ me so I can get out of here! Everyone is staring at me! Any house is fine! _Meredith thought. "I will take as much time as I wish, Meredith, but this happens to be all the time I need. You will play a big part in the future of this school, Mer—" The hat abruptly stopped for about fifteen of the longest seconds in the world, then shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Meredith took off the hat as quickly as possible, set it down on the stool, and walked over to the Gryffindor table. It took her a moment to realize that her whole house was clapping and cheering for her, including some people at the other house tables.

Ginny and Fred made room between themselves so Meredith could sit. As the students stopped cheering, McGonagall called out, "Whitby, Kevin!" Meredith hadn't been last after all! Kevin was named a Hufflepuff and the Sorting ended. Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and stool and carried them off.

"About time!" Ron said from four seats to Meredith's right. He leaned around Harry, Hermione, and Ginny to look at her. "Why'd you have to take so long? You must've been up there for two whole minutes! Everyone else was only thirty seconds at most!" It was true. The hat had been on Meredith's head for much longer than it had been on anyone else's. Maybe it was because she was older and the Hat had more memories to sort through. But the way it had just stopped abruptly in the middle of her name… _That_ was unusual. It couldn't be normal, could it?

Dumbledore's voice rang through the hall, interrupting Meredith's thoughts. "I have only two words to say to you. _Tuck in._"

The empty dishes were suddenly filled with food. Meredith filled her plate with food and began to eat. Her nerves had concealed just how hungry she really was until that moment.

They ate in silence for a while until one of the ghosts popped through the boy sitting across from Meredith, saying, "Welcome to Gryffindor!" to Meredith.

"Thank you," Meredith told him politely.

"I am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the ghost of Gryffindor house. You may call me Sir Nicholas. And who are you?"

"I'm Meredith Weasley."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." Sir Nicholas floated over to Harry and Ron and began talking to them. The boy sitting across from Meredith groaned. Meredith had read in other stories how uncomfortable it was to have a ghost pass straight through you.

"You new?" the boy across the table asked after recovering.

"Yeah."

"It's Meredith, right?" When Meredith nodded, he continued, "I'm Neville Longbottom. You, um, aren't in first year, are you?"

"Oh, no. I'm in fourth. Just moved here from the U.S. I've never been to a wizard school before. It's really awesome so far."

"Cool. I'm in fourth also. You're from America, huh? What's it like there?"

So Meredith spent the rest of the banquet talking to Neville about America and other places she'd been to. Neville had never been to America, but he had been to several other places in Europe that Meredith had never been to, so he told her about them. Later, the conversation turned to the World Cup, which Neville hadn't been to because his grandmother hadn't wanted to buy the expensive tickets. He had heard a play-by-play description of it from his friends on the train.

Just as they began talking about their favorite players, Professor Dumbledore stood up and said, "So! Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been expanded to include screaming yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list is now comprised of four hundred and thirty seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it.

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

"WHAT?" Meredith heard Harry gasp. Meredith herself was quite surprised also. She had been looking forward to Quidditch at school, and had even thought about trying out for the team.

Dumbledore spoke again, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy—but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—"

At that moment, there was a deafening roar of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open. In the doorway stood a man, leaning on a long staff, wearing a black traveling cloak. All eyes turned to the stranger. He began to walk up towards the teachers' table. Every other step, a dull thunk echoed through the hall. The stranger limped towards Dumbledore and turned to face the students.

There was a flash of lightning that lit up the man's face crystal clear. His face was scarred severely, as if someone had taken a chisel and a hammer and carved the deep gouges. Instead of two like eyes, he had one small dark eye, but the other one was blue and large. It moved independently of the other eye, darting here and there. It met Meredith's gaze and stayed there for a second. A shiver of fear ran through all the nerves in Meredith's body.

Dumbledore gestured for the stranger to sit down. The man shook his mane of dark grey hair, sat down, sniffed a sausage on the plate in front of him, and began to eat. His blue eye still darted restlessly in its socket.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore brightly to the silent students. "Professor Moody." Everyone except Dumbledore and the giant man who had taken them across the lake stared in silence and awe. _This _man was their professor? Defense Against the Dark Arts. Were they going to be fighting against him? He looked a bit Dark.

Then the whispers began. "_Mad-Eye_ Moody?" people wondered aloud. "The crazy ex-Auror?"

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he said, smiling at all the students, most of who were looking at Professor Moody rather than at him. "We are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months. An event that has not been held in over a century. It is my great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

So _this_ was what Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie had all known about. But Meredith still had no idea what the Triwizard Tournament _was_. Luckily for her, Dumbledore explained it.

"The Triwizard Tournament… Well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves," his eyes rested briefly on Meredith, "so I hope those who _do_ know will forgive me for giving a short explanation.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang." He continued to explain how the three champions, one from each school, were selected to perform three tasks. Each of the schools took turns hosting the tournament every five years. The purpose was to establish ties between wizards and witches of different nationalities, "Until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

Meredith heard Hermione gasp, "_Death_ toll?" But no one else looked in the least bit nervous that people—_kids_—had _died_ in this tournament.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament, none of which has been successful. However, our own Departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place on Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand galleons prize money."

"I'm going for it!" Fred hissed down the table, his face lit up with pure enthusiasm at the thought of all that money. But his face fell and turned to anger when Dumbledore said that nobody under the age of seventeen could compete, and he himself would be making sure of _that._ "Rubbish!" Fred and George said.

"And now it is late and I know how important it is to you to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!" Dumbledore concluded. He sat down and began to talk quietly with Professor Moody. The whole hall of students got up and walked towards the doors.

Meredith rose from her chair and followed her family out of the Great Hall and up the stairs. They kept talking about entering and how great it would be to win. They planned on how to get around the age limit. Meredith was hardly listening to any of the conversation. She was too busy looking at the millions of portraits hung on the walls. All of them were moving and the people were waving just like real people. Meredith didn't notice where she was going until a step of the staircase gave way underneath her foot. She gave a little scream. Neville, who had been walking alongside Meredith, got his leg stuck in the trick step also. A suit of armor at the top of the stairs cackled mockingly while Harry and Ron pulled Neville and Meredith out of the trick step.

"Thanks," Meredith said, and continued walking, watching everyone's feet for any more trick steps. The suit of armor continued to laugh until Ron clanked shut its visor, saying, "Shut it, you."

They continued walking to the Gryffindor tower, and Meredith stopped looking at the paintings and began to memorize where everything was and how to get to Gryffindor tower. She began to fear getting lost going to every class and that she would never memorize where things were. This place was so _big_. And then there were the moving staircases to worry about. Meredith freaked out, tripped, and fell the first time she was on a moving staircase. Luckily, Neville was still walking next to her (pointing out specific corridors) and Harry turned around in time, so she didn't go tumbling down the stairs.

They finally reached the portrait of a plump lady in a pink dress. "Password?" she said.

"Balderdash," George said. "A prefect downstairs told me." The portrait swung forward to reveal a hole in the wall through which they all climbed. A crackling fire warmed the circular room, which was full of tables and soft armchairs.

"_This_ is the common room," Fred said to Meredith. "Girls dormitories are up that staircase. Good night, then."

Meredith said goodnight to everyone and then headed up the staircase Fred had pointed to. She walked up yet more stairs to the door marked _Fourth Years._ She walked in and found her trunk and backpack at the foot of a bed close to the window. A few other girls were in the dormitory as well. They had already changed into pajamas and looked as if they were on their way to brush their teeth. Meredith recognized Hermione as one of the girls heading for the bathrooms, but she wasn't laughing like the rest of them. She had an expression of deep thought and moderate disgust on her face. "Slave labor," Meredith thought she heard Hermione mumble on her way out the door. Meredith had no idea what she meant.

While everyone was out of the room, Meredith opened her trunk and changed into her pajamas, which she had learned to do speedily in America with a sister who never knocked before entering. Then she went to the bathrooms at the top of the stairs to brush her teeth and floss. She noticed there were extra toiletries in all the cabinets: tubes of toothpaste, rolls of floss, tooth brushes, make-up kits, nail trimmers, and anything else a girl could need over the course of a school year.

Meredith went over to one of the ten sinks and started to brush her teeth. She looked around the bathroom once more and saw a row of ten bathroom stalls, ten shower stalls, and ten changing stalls. _Very convenient_, Meredith thought, and continued with her before-bedtime routines.

She looked at her digital watch to check the time and found that the watch face was blank. Then she remembered Dumbledore telling her that electronics didn't work at Hogwarts. How long ago had that been? About a month. _Wow,_ she thought. _I've been away from home for a long time. I didn't even notice the time passing by. School has been in session there for nearly a month. I wonder if my friends have forgotten me…_

Meredith finished and then went back down to her dormitory. She set out fresh clothes for the next day and laid out her cloak and robes to dry. She got into bed and fell asleep thinking that this year was going to be great, wondering if her friends in America were thinking about her, and asking herself what in the world a prefect was.


	8. The First Day

**Just to let everyone know, the class schedule did not come from any other source, I completely made it up. I also made up the spell for flame freezing. Some parts of this chapter were copied from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Mostly Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I don't own anything you recognize from the HP books.**

Chapter Eight: The First Day

The next morning, Meredith woke up early and found the clothes she had set out the night before perfectly ironed, and the wet clothes from the day before perfectly dry, ironed, and folded. She also found a red and gold necktie, a grey sweater with a red stripe near the neckline, a red and gold scarf, and a pair of grey gloves next to that day's robes. They hadn't been there the night before. _Magic,_ Meredith figured, as that should be a safe assumption in a school like this, and she went up to the bathrooms to dress and get ready for the day. By the time she was ready to go in her uniform and brand new tie, everyone else was only waking up. Meredith looked herself over one last time in the mirror, noticed that her robes now had the Gryffindor emblem on them, and went down to the common room. Nobody else was in there, so Meredith went out of the portrait hole and found her way downstairs to the Great Hall. It took a while, since she checked almost every step to see if it was solid; most of them were. There were only a few that Meredith noted to herself to skip in the future.

For breakfast there was toast with jam, eggs, and bacon. Meredith had a piece of toast with butter and bacon. Gradually, the hall around Meredith began to fill with students. After about ten minutes, most of the Gryffindors were eating breakfast and Professor McGonagall had started handing out class schedules and maps. Meredith got her schedule and read it.

Monday: 8:30-10 Herbology

10:10-11:40 Care of Magical Creatures

11:40-12:30 Lunch Break

12:40- 3:40 Divination (Double)

3:50-4:50 Remedial Herbology

5:00-6:00 Remedial Care of Magical Creatures

6:10-7:10 Remedial Divination

Tuesday: 8:30-10:00 Transfiguration

10:10-11:40 Potions

11:40-12:30 Lunch Break

12:40-3:40 History of Magic (Double)

3:50-4:50 Remedial Transfiguration

5:00-6:00 History Tutoring

Wednesday: 8:30-10:00 Charms

10:10-12:10 Herbology (Double)

12:10-1:00 Lunch Break

1:10-3:10 Care of Magical Creatures (Double)

3:10-4:40 Divination

4:50-5:50 Remedial Charms

Thursday: 8:30-10:00 Defense Against the Dark Arts

10:10-11:40 Transfiguration

11:40-12:30 Lunch Break

12:40- 2:40 Potions (Double)

2:50-4:20 History of Magic

4:30-5:30 Remedial Defense Against the Dark Arts

5:40-6:40 Remedial Transfiguration

Friday: 8:30-10:30 Charms (Double)

10:40-11:40 Remedial Care of Magical Creatures

11:40-12:30 Lunch Break

12:40-2:40 Defense Against the Dark Arts (Double)

2:50- 3:50 Remedial Potions

4:00-5:00 History Tutoring

5:10- 6:10 Remedial Charms

Behind the paper with her schedule, Meredith found a bigger piece of parchment with a map of the school on it. All the classrooms and corridors were labeled on each floor. Some of the rooms were shifting around on the paper. Meredith looked at the Great Hall on the map. Around the center of it were a red dot and the words _You Are Here_. Meredith looked for each of her classrooms while finishing her breakfast. She found the charms classroom, the spot on the grounds where Care of Magical Creatures was held, and the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. It took her a while to find the Potions classroom because it was in the dungeons. She found her other classes for that day quite easily.

Meredith was just getting up to fetch her book bag from the dormitory when there was a huge racket and a hundred owls flew through the windows into the room, carrying parcels and letters and newspapers.

A dark brown owl landed on Meredith's shoulder and began nudging her cheek. She took the letter out of its beak and opened the envelope. It was a letter from her adoptive parents. It said:

_Dear Meredith,_

_Right after you left on the train we realized that we never asked you when your birthday was. In your response, please tell us. Also, what house are you in? We hope you have a great term and year._

_Love, _

_Mum and Dad_

Meredith made note to go to the owlery (which she had seen on the map) later and send a reply then. Right now she didn't have paper or a quill.

The owl flew down from Meredith's shoulder to her plate, where it nipped at a few bread crumbs, and flew away.

Meredith walked out of the Great Hall, which was now very noisy with excited students, and headed back up to Gryffindor tower. On her way, she got lost and asked herself aloud, looking at the map, "Now _how_ do I get back?"

A portrait on the wall asked, "Looking for the way back to Gryffindor tower, dear?"

"Yes, actually," Meredith answered the kind-looking old woman in the portrait.

"Keep going up until you reach the portrait of a woman and a baby. Then turn right. That should get you there."

"Thank you," Meredith said, and continued going up the flights and flights of stairs until she reached the painting of a woman and a baby. She turned right and soon found herself in front of the portrait of the lady in the pink dress. "Balderdash," she said, and climbed into the common room.

She headed straight upstairs to the dormitory to grab her things for the day. She got her backpack, and put her Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts books into it, along with three quills and two inkbottles. She didn't know which of her first, second, or third year Potions, History, and Charms books she would need, so she didn't bring any of them. She hoped that would be alright with her teachers.

Meredith took her wand off the chest of drawers next to her bed and brought out her watch. She thought hard of it turning into a watch that worked and was always right. She flicked her wand at it; the watch turned into a blue watch with hands instead of a screen. It showed 8:15 am. Meredith hadn't intended to turn it neon blue, but a blue watch was better than no watch. She decided it was time to go find her Charms classroom, so she tucked her wand in an inside pocket of her robes with her schedule.

By following the map, on which the red dot moved to wherever she was, Meredith found her classroom in about ten minutes. She looked for and memorized specific portraits on the way. Meredith walked into the classroom and took a seat at a desk in the second row next to the wall. The professor was not in the room yet.

After Meredith, other students came in with their groups of friends and all sat down together. They chatted and laughed. Meredith recognized the Gryffindor girls from her dormitory and a few Gryffindor boys she had seen at dinner the previous night. Meredith saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the classroom and sit down together.

Meredith checked her blue watch. Two minutes until class was going to begin. She willed time to go faster; girls and boys were already looking at her funny, probably wondering why the girl who had only just been sorted into their house was in a fourth year level class. Meredith noticed that not all the people there were Gryffindors; many of them had the Ravenclaw emblem on their robes.

Meredith was so focused on people-watching that she hardly noticed a small man come out of the office and climb up onto a stool at the front of the room. "Attention, please," the man said in a high voice. "Welcome to another year of charms. I hope you all had a good holiday. Today we will be learning the flame freezing charm. Repeat after me: _Ignis Conglatus._"

The rest of charms was spent attempting to freeze a candle flame. They tested the flame each time by putting a toothpick into the flame. If it burned, they hadn't succeeded and had to try again.

Not many people were able to freeze the fire within an hour. Many students had a pile of burnt toothpicks on their desks at the end of class.

Meredith tried to make the candle fire cooler for the whole class period. For the first hour, she succeeded only in turning the candle to pure ice and encasing the flame in a clear, glass-like sheet of ice. It stayed that way for about ten seconds and then melted, leaving a pool of water on her desk. The professor, who Meredith found out was called Flitwick, walked past after a few minutes and watched Meredith's candle freeze completely. "Try limiting your energy more," he suggested, and walked away to help other students. Meredith could tell she'd surprised him.

After thinking hard for an hour about a pleasantly warm candle flame and repeating the spell over and over, Meredith finally got the flame to a temperature where it didn't burn the toothpick or freeze. But it sputtered out after ten seconds. She tapped the wick with her wand, thinking about the candle being lit. It worked; the candle lit and burned more brightly than it had been.

A few Ravenclaw students saw Meredith do this and began whispering again. "Magic without spells," she heard one of them say. Meredith tried to ignore them and focused on cooling the flame. She had to relight it quite a few times, but eventually got it.

Professor Flitwick said their homework was to practice this charm with larger fires and come to the next lesson prepared to walk through a bonfire without getting hurt.

When class was dismissed, Meredith hurried out of the classroom, down two flights of stairs, and out of the castle to the cabin that Care of Magical Creatures classes were held by. It was a giant cabin, so she assumed it was where the giant man lived. This was her first remedial class; Meredith wondered if failing students would be in it. She hoped not.

The giant man who had led the first years across the lake in boats was waiting for her next to the cabin. "Hullo, Meredith," he said as she approached.

"Hello," Meredith said back. There was a pause.

"Well, welcome to yer first care 'o magical creatures class. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, but yeh can call me Hagrid. Everyone does. Yeh're the only one in this class, so best get started. Know what a hippogriff is?"

"A what?"

"Hippogriff. Beau'iful creatures. Yeh can leave yer bag over here and we'll go see one."

Meredith dropped her bag next to the cabin, hoping it didn't rain, and walked with Hagrid towards the forest. "Aren't students not allowed to go into the forest?" Meredith asked fearfully.

"Yeh can if ye're with me. All o' yeh combined don' know the forest 's well 's I do. Been gamekeeper here since I was thirteen. Started teachin' las' year. Great of Dumbledore ter let me stay here all these years."

They continued walking into the woods for a few minutes until they reached a clearing.

There stood the most beautiful, bizarre creature Meredith had ever seen. Its head was like a grey falcon's, only larger; its first two legs were bird legs, but the back legs were horse legs; half of the back was feathered and had giant folded wings; the other half was a horse.

"Meredith, meet Bu—uh, Witherwings." In a quieter voice he said, "Don' tell anyone he's here, though. He put a scratch on Draco Malfoy las' year and was gonna be executed, but escaped somehow. Jus' don' tell anyone, 'kay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Now, hippogriffs are very proud creatures. Don' insult 'im. It may just be the las' thing you ever do. It's how Malfoy got hurt las' year. So what ye'll do to get closer is walk slowly closer, stop, 'n' curtsy, an' if he bows back, you can touch 'im. Go on."

Meredith slowly approached the gallant creature until she was only a few yards away. She curtsied the best she could to Witherwings. He blinked at her and then bowed, never breaking eye contact.

"Go on, pet 'im," Hagrid told her. She walked slowly closer to the hippogriff and lightly petted his nose and head. It was as soft as a Snuggie.

"Well done, Meredith!" Hagrid said. "Have yeh ever flown before?"

"Only on a broom."

"Would yeh like to fly on Witherwings?"

"Sure. If he'll let me." She began to climb up the creature's side onto its back and situated herself just behind the wings. She put her arms around Witherwings's neck and got ready to fly. Hagrid stepped back.

All of a sudden, Witherwings leapt into the air. Meredith felt scared. She knew she would fall…

Witherwings leveled himself out, preventing Meredith from slipping off like she would have. They soared over the forest and over the lake. "You won't let me fall, will you?" Meredith asked the hippogriff, who made a noise like the combination of a squawk and a neigh. Meredith took it to mean no. Witherwings wouldn't let her fall in a million years.

The sensation of flying on a hippogriff was even better than flying on a broom. Witherwings had a sort of stability that a broom didn't have. It was like being a princess on a Pegasus that happened to have a bird head.

After a while, they landed back in the clearing and Meredith slid off Witherwings's back. They said goodbye to the hippogriff and headed back towards Hagrid's hut. On the way, Hagrid taught Meredith all sorts of interesting facts about hippogriffs like what they ate and where they liked to live.

Just as they reached the cabin, the school bell rang loudly. Meredith jumped.

"Well, tha's the end o' the lesson, Meredith. See yeh Monday in class," Hagrid said.

"Bye," Meredith told him as she picked up her bag and began walking up to the castle for lunch.

For lunch there were lamb chops and mashed potatoes. Meredith listened to no conversations in particular and talked to no one because no one talked to her. _I hope I get some friends soon,_ she thought as she packed up the book she had been reading and left to find her next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

When she got there, Meredith found half the class already in the classroom. Meredith took a seat near the back of the room because she didn't want to sit in the front and all the middle seats were taken by students too scared to sit right in front of "Mad-Eye" Moody, but also too curious to sit in the way back. The front seats were taken in a few moments by none other than Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Meredith took her copy of _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ out of her bag like the other students were, and waited.

A few minutes later, the class heard the thunk of Professor Moody's footsteps in the corridor and watched him limp into the classroom. Meredith noticed a clawed wooden end on the professor's clunking leg.

"You can put those away, those books. You won't need them," Moody growled, sitting down at his desk, magical eye moving wildly in its socket. He took out a piece of parchment that looked like a roll sheet, and began calling out names. As each student answered, the magical eye turned to him or her.

When the last person had been called, Moody said, "Right, then. I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class." _Who the heck is Professor Lupin?_ Meredith wondered. "Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures—You've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"

Meredith said nothing while the rest of the class nodded in assent.

"But you're behind—very behind—on dealing with curses," Moody continued. "So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark—"

Meredith guessed he had been about to say _wizards_ but Ron interrupted, "What, aren't you staying?"

Moody turned to Ron and gave a small smile, making his face look even more contorted than it already was. He explained that this year he was here as a favor to Dumbledore, and then he would be going back into retirement.

"So, straight into it. Curses," Moody said. "They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in your sixth year. You're not supposed to be able to deal with it until then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. So… Do any of you know which curses are the most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

Many people raised their hand, but not Meredith. She had lost the conversation at "Lupin" and again at the part about being able to cope. Illegal curses?

Moody called on Ron, and Meredith gathered enough information to follow the lecture again. Ron named the Imperius Curse.

Moody got to his feet and took a glass jar out of his desk drawer. In it were three black spiders. Meredith gulped. She, like her adoptive brother Ron, hated spiders. (But she hated snakes much, much more.) Moody took the largest spider out of the jar and pointed his wand at it. "_Imperio_," he said.

The spider leapt from Moody's hand and swung on its web like a trapeze. It jumped from desk to desk doing a little jig. It jumped onto some people's heads. The class was laughing at the things the spider was doing, but Meredith wasn't. She was concentrating too hard on where in the room the spider was.

She saw it coming before it did. The spider landed on Meredith's desk and started tap-dancing. Meredith stared at it, frozen half with fear, half with pity for the spider being forced to do this. She really felt sorry for it. Moody finally removed the spider from her desk and sent it swinging back to himself.

"Think it's funny, do you?" Moody asked the class. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?" The laughter died away almost instantly. "Total control. I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats…" Meredith shut her mouth into a tighter line than it already was. "Years ago, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius curse. Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act and who was acting of their own free will.

"The Imperius curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he barked, and the whole class jumped. Moody threw the spider back into the jar. "Anyone else? Another illegal curse?"

This time, Neville was called on, and said, "There's one—the Cruciatus Curse," in a small but distinct voice.

Moody got a different spider from the jar and set it on his desk. "_Engorgio_," he said, and the spider grew bigger than a tarantula. Poor Ron. She watched him move his chair back, as far away from the desk as possible. Meredith was glad she had chosen to sit in the back.

The professor raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider, and said, "_Crucio_."

The spider's legs bent upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch. As much as Meredith disliked spiders, she truly felt sorry for this one. It was obviously going through immense pain. Meredith glanced over at Neville, who was sitting a few desks over from her. He was pale and his knuckles were white from gripping the desk.

"Stop it!" Hermione said. "Can't you see it's bothering him?" She, too, had seen Neville. Moody raised his wand, but the spider continued to twitch.

"_Reducio_," Moody said; the spider shrank back down to its proper size and was dropped back into the jar. "Pain," Moody said softly. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse… That one was very popular once, too.

"Right…anyone know any others?"

Hermione answered, "Avada Kedavra," in a whisper when Moody called on her.

"Ah, yes. The last and the worst. Avada Kedavra… The Killing Curse."

Meredith remembered what Ron had told her about Harry and Harry's parents. Harry Potter's parents had been murdered with the Killing Curse, and Harry was the only person to ever survive it.

Moody grabbed another spider from the jar after chasing it around the bottom of the jar for a moment. It was as if the spider knew what was coming.

Moody raised his wand and roared, "_Avada Kedavra!_" There was a flash of green light, and a whooshing sound, and the spider rolled onto its back, unmistakably dead. Meredith, along with several other students, gasped in shock.

"Not nice," Moody said calmly. "Not pleasant. And there's no blocking it. Only one person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me." Everyone looked at Harry, who just stared straight ahead. Both of Moody's eyes were fixed on Harry. After what seemed like an hour of silence, Moody began talking again. "Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it—you could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd even get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it.

"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? Because you've got to know. You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, and the whole class jumped again.

"Now, those three curses—Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus—are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice _constant, never-ceasing vigilance._ Get out your quills. Copy this down…"

They spent the rest of the lesson taking notes on each of the Unforgivable Curses. No one spoke until the big booming bell rang. It made Meredith jump again.

When Moody dismissed them, Meredith was one of the first people out of the door. Neville was first. He seemed more shaken up by the curses than the rest of them. He walked in a daze towards the nearest wall and stared at it. Meredith went up to him and asked, "Neville? Are you alright? You looked pretty tense back there."

"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine," Neville replied in an unnaturally high voice. He continued to stare at the wall.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione came up and also asked Neville if he was alright. Moody came out of his classroom and went away with Neville, saying, "It's alright, sonny. Come on…We can have a cup of tea." Neville looked back at them and made a face that said, _Please help me out of this!_ But there was nothing they could do.

Meredith began walking to her next class, remedial potions, while everyone else went back to the common room. They were all done with classes for the day, while Meredith still had three more to go. She made her way down to the dungeons where the potions classes were held.

The dungeons were dark and a little stuffy. Meredith guessed that the potions teacher liked it this way. Though, _whoever_ could like conditions like this would have to be a little odd. Meredith hoped that this teacher wasn't like one of those awkward long-term substitute teachers that everyone thought was weird and looked funny.

Meredith descended the last flight of stairs and came into a classroom unlike any other she had seen. It was solid brick and no natural light came in. A few torches along the wall and some lanterns hanging from the ceiling supplied what light there was. Instead of desks, the room contained what looked like a series of counters lined up in rows. On each counter were several thick wire frames that could hold a cauldron; at the bottom of each was a burner.

"Hello," a deep voice said from the front of the room. Meredith jumped. She hadn't even noticed the man standing there behind a desk at the front of the room. He was rather tall with greasy-looking black shoulder-length hair and a clean-shaven face. He wore a long black buttoned coat with a white shirt whose cuffs and collar barely poked out. Everything about the man was dark, from his long black robes to the last hair on his head. His skin, however, was pale. Meredith figured it was probably from lack of sunlight down here. He wasn't smiling.

Meredith thought all of these things in the seconds before she said "Hello," back to the person she presumed was the professor.

"Afternoon. I am Professor Snape, potions master and head of Slytherin house, which, unfortunately, I hear you are not in." Meredith wasn't sure what to make of that. She hoped this teacher wasn't a creeper. He had a cold voice that made him sound angry all the time. He spoke slowly and clearly; Meredith felt like she was in trouble for something. The professor still didn't look cheerful at all. Professor Snape pointed to a bench near his desk, indicating for her to put her stuff there and sit. She did, and took her cauldron and potions ingredients out of her bag.

"I didn't bring a book because I didn't know which one to bring. I hope that'll be alright?"

"We will be using a book from my cupboard. Although, you may want to bring your own to write notes in." He went over to a heavy wooden door, opened it, and went into the room beyond. Meredith caught a glimpse of shelves lined with odd-looking things suspended in different colored liquids. Very soon, Professor Snape came back with a battered potions book. He set it on the table in front of Meredith.

"Put your cauldron in there," he said, indicating the wire frame, "and open your ingredients kit. Everything in there is labeled. We shall start with the first potion in the book, one to get rid of boils." He opened the worn volume and turned a few pages to the first potion.

Professor Snape explained what all the words used in the directions meant and even some shortcuts that could be used for the same ingredients in other potions as well as this one. The potions book had tricks and shortcuts written all over it, things crossed out, side notes written sloppily in the margins. Meredith suspected that this might have been the book Professor Snape himself had used in his years at Hogwarts. He _was,_ after all, the potions master, so he _would_ have to know these tricks.

Making potions beat what she would have been taught in Chemistry; judging by the summer homework, it was all math with units attached. Potions wasn't like that. It wasn't a series of models of the atom. There was a lot of measuring involved, yes, but this was mixing things and getting real chemical reactions. For Meredith, it was fascinating, even if the teacher was a little creepy.

She was very sad when, an hour later, the lesson ended and she left for history tutoring. Her History of Magic tutoring, a side note on the paper told her, would be held in the Transfiguration classroom and taught by a different teacher, not the regular teacher.

When Meredith entered the Transfiguration classroom, she found Professor McGonagall there waiting for her. "Good evening, Meredith," the professor said as she stood up from her chair. "I will be your History of Magic tutor in place of Professor Binns. He is a ghost and will not teach outside regular class times. Shall we begin?" Meredith sat down at the desk right in front of the teacher's desk and pulled out parchment, a quill, and ink to take notes.

This history class was different from past history classes, just like potions had been different from science and chemistry. They talked about the wizard's secrecy treaty, which was an agreement that wizards would hide their existence from Muggles, and they had just started talking about the goblin wars when Professor McGonagall looked at the clock on the wall and saw that they only had two minutes left of the class. Meredith looked at her own watch, and the professor just happened to notice its blueness.

"Pardon my asking, but Meredith, why is your wristwatch blue?"

"Oh. Yeah, I, um… Well, I had an electronic watch and it didn't work here, so I changed it into one that would, and it accidentally turned out to be blue. But it works!"

"I see," McGonagall said, and Meredith could tell she wanted to ask more questions about how Meredith had managed to turn her Muggle watch into a wizard watch.

Meredith packed up her things and headed to the charms classroom. She was getting tired and the stairs seemed to have grown since that morning.

"Welcome back, Miss Weasley," Professor Flitwick greeted her as she entered the classroom. He was still standing on his stool and pile of books. Meredith went to a desk at the front and sat down her bag, just as she had in every remedial class so far. She got out her wand from an inside pocket of her robes.

"Now," Professor Flitwick said. "The first charm you will learn is a levitating charm: Wingardium Leviosa. The headmaster says you managed to do this one a few weeks ago without saying anything and without knowing the spell, but it is best to know. For this one, you will do a swish and flick." He demonstrated with his own wand. Then he set a feather on the table. "You try. Wingardium Leviosa."

Meredith took a deep breath and said, "_Wingardium Leviosa,_" thinking hard about the feather flying through the air like the tissue box and Ollivander's inkpot had. But as she said the words, she knew something was wrong. The memory of the light bulbs exploding came into her mind. The feather blew up and all that was left was a pile of smoking ashes.

"Oo," Professor Flitwick said, his eyes wide.

"Sorry," Meredith told him as he waved his wand and the ashes turned back into a feather.

"Quite alright. Try a little less swish. Focus your mind. Channel your energy." Then Flitwick braced himself for another explosion.

Meredith focused hard on getting the feather to fly. It did, but zoomed upwards and stuck to the high ceiling.

"Oo," the professor said again. Meredith let go of her magic, allowing the feather to float gently down back onto the desk. "Hmm," Flitwick continued in his high-pitched voice. "Why not try clearing your mind. It helps me sometimes. You must master your power and harness it to do your will. Focus!"

_This isn't a lesson on using the Force,_ Meredith thought, but she kept her thoughts to herself. "_Wingardium Leviosa,_" Meredith said a third time, after clearing her mind of all thought and taking a deep breath. Miraculously, the feather floated gently upward and followed wherever Meredith's wand pointed.

"Oh, well done! I think we've discovered what you need to do for every charm you try: clear your mind. You are very powerful, Meredith. Clearing your mind will help you control that power and you should be able to do any spell whatsoever! But make sure you always _clear your mind first_! We don't want fire shooting out of your wand or anything of that sort. Now, then. Since you've mastered that, we'll move onto the next charm and you'll memorize these later…"

By the time remedial charms ended, Meredith was so exhausted and hungry that she went directly down to the Great Hall for supper, ate in silence, and went straight to bed without talking to anyone. She was lucky it was Friday and she would have all weekend to work on her charms and practice clearing her mind, which she had found to be extremely difficult. It was only the first day and she was already tired and doubting that Dumbledore was right about her being able to catch up in one year.

But for once in her life, she enjoyed school. Yes, she missed her friends, but she would see them whenever she had time to go to America. The point was, she didn't miss the Muggle world, with its busy government and technology. No, she didn't miss the Muggle world at all. And that was the truth.

**O, no, readers. We have not yet reached the **_**horrid**_** truth. Part of the **_**horrid**_** truth will be coming tomorrow. And with that chapter, I think I might up the rating to T.**


	9. What the Headmaster Wouldn't Say

**The original title of this chapter was "Saturday" but it's not all about Saturday, so I changed it before posting it. So here's half of the **_**horrid**_** truth.**

Chapter Nine: What the Headmaster Wouldn't Say

On Saturday morning, Meredith was pulled up into half-consciousness by the sunlight streaming through the dormitory window. She lingered in half-awake-mode for a while, in which she thought up a good ending to her dream about pirates who were also wizards and could turn into unicorns and talking rainbows.

Then she remembered: Dumbledore; she had a meeting with him that day. Her eyes popped open and she jumped out of bed. Everyone else was gone from the dormitory.

Her next thought, which occurred to her while she was pulling on robes over a pair of well worn jeans and a T-shirt, was that she had to go to the owlery to reply to her adoptive parents' letter from the day before.

Once she was all dressed, combed, and ready to go, Meredith grabbed her school map off her dresser and dashed out of Gryffindor tower to find the owlery. Then she remembered that she needed parchment to write the letter on, and dashed back into the common room. She wrote in neat cursive:

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_The first day went well. I think I __will__ have fun at school this year. I can already tell it's going to be much better than Muggle school in the U.S. My birthday is February 14__th__. I will be 15. Thank you again for taking care of me._

_ Love,_

_ Meredith_

Then she hurried off to the owlery to send the message. Meredith was extremely surprised that she ran into nobody on her way there. She guessed that everyone was probably at breakfast or hanging out on the grounds.

However, she was not the only one in the owlery sending a letter. She walked into the open morning air-filled room to find Harry Potter there, attaching a letter to his snowy owl's leg.

"Oh, hi, Harry," Meredith said as she picked out an owl and copied what Harry was doing. So _this_ was why the envelopes had strings on them.

"Hi, Meredith," Harry said back. He whispered something to his owl and Hedwig flew off. "What brings you here?"

"Yesterday I got a letter from my parents asking when my birthday is. I'm replying now."

"When's your birthday?"

"February fourteenth."

"Valentine's day? Cool. Mine's July 31st. I've never met anyone who was born on Valentine's Day." He walked towards the door. "Well, I'll see you around. Bye."

"Bye." _Something's worrying him_, Meredith thought as the owl with her letter glanced at the names on the envelope and flew away. _Smart owls,_ she also thought, but then became too preoccupied with not slipping and falling on the dropping- and owl-pellet-covered floor to think of much else. Then she went down to breakfast.

On her way to the Great Hall, Meredith found out where everyone was. They were all hanging out in the Great Hall and in the corridors.

Just as she finished her breakfast, Meredith noticed Professor McGonagall coming towards her from the teachers' table. McGonagall walked up and said, "Meredith. Good morning."

"Good morning, Professor," Meredith said back.

"I am to take you to Professor Dumbledore's office right now. You remember you have a meeting with him today, don't you?"

"Mm-hmm," Meredith nodded.

"Good. Come now." She walked briskly towards the doors of the Great Hall. Meredith rose quickly from the long bench seat and followed Professor McGonagall. They walked up a few staircases to a statue of a griffin built into a large indentation in the wall. "Sherbet lemon," Professor McGonagall said, and the griffin began twisting up to form a spiral staircase. They both hopped onto the bottom step, which continued twisting upwards like a spiral escalator. Then the professor knocked on a heavy wooden door.

A familiar voice from within said, "Come in, Minerva." They found Professor Dumbledore sitting in a chair at his desk. Dumbledore got up from his chair as Professor McGonagall and Meredith entered. He said, "Hello, Minerva. Thank you for bringing Meredith here. You may go." Professor McGonagall left.

When the door had closed, Dumbledore said, "Now, you know why you are here, don't you Meredith?"

"For you to answer my questions, right?"

"As many as I can, yes. Sit. Ask anything."

"Okay." She sat down in a large red armchair in front of Dumbledore's desk. Dumbledore sat down behind his desk again. Meredith wished she had brought her list of questions with her. "Why am I coming here instead of going to a school near Montreal for wizards and witches? Why aren't there wizard schools in the United States?"

"The United States lost popularity among wizards around the time of the Salem Witch Trials. And where would _you_ hide a school like this in America? Muggles live all over. Yes, the closest school for you is in the forests of Canada, and that is where many American Muggle-born witches and wizards go. As to why you are here instead of there, I will quote what I said a few weeks ago: you were never supposed to meet the Muggle family you lived with. They are not your true family."

"Then who _is_ my true family?" Meredith asked a second before she realized that was incorrect grammar. "Er…_are_," she corrected herself, sounding pathetic and knowing it.

"Very near here. Allow me to tell you a story." Dumbledore folded his hands. "Fourteen years ago, when you were but a few days old, your father sent you off to live with a Muggle family in America, modifying their memories so they would think you were really theirs." In response to Meredith's understanding face, he said, "Yes, this is the reason you look nothing like your family and they all have blonde hair while yours is…" He paused a second, as if trying to decide what color exactly Meredith's hair was. "Ebony.

"A year later, I learned of your existence and searched for you, knowing that you would be powerful one day, and had too much magic to ignore." He paused. "Your father hid you well, Meredith. This is why you did not start school when you were eleven."

"So I was an unwanted child and that's all there is to it?"

"No, no, no, Meredith. Your father loves you; he is just now realizing how big a mistake he made by sending you away. You were not an unloved and unwanted child."

"Then why did he send me away, and when I was only a few days old?"

"That is something you will know only when your father chooses to tell you."

"And who _is_ my father? And what about my mother?" Meredith felt a rush of excitement at the prospect of finally _knowing_.

"Your father will tell you who he is when he is ready. Your mother, sadly, passed away only moments after you were born. I am sorry you never knew her."

Meredith's hopes sank and her stomach dropped down to her toes. Dumbledore knew classified information relating to her, yet he _wasn't going to tell her!_ "But why didn't I stay with him this summer instead of with the Weasleys?"

"Your father is not ready to have a daughter, Meredith. He does not know how to feel about having one."

"So I _am_ an—"

"_Meredith!_ You were _not_ an unwanted child. I've already told you, your father loves you, but he wasn't ready for a child when he got one. I have spoken with him and written letters, and he told me to tell you that he promises to tell you who he is before the end of the year and please not to be angry with him."

Meredith didn't respond, but just sat in the chair, looking out the window at the hills and valleys beyond the school grounds. It was beautiful scenery. It would have made her happy if she hadn't just found out that she had been a mistake. No matter what Dumbledore said to her, he could never cure her of that feeling. Finally, she said, "Why am I staying with the Weasleys next summer also?"

"If your father keeps his promise, you most likely will not stay with the Weasleys for most of next summer, actually. You will be visiting your father, and perhaps moving into his house. I told you that you would be staying with the Weasleys before your father told me that you might stay with him. We have not been on speaking terms since I brought you here. I do not think he wished for you to come back into his life."

There it was again. The word _unwanted_ floated back to the surface of Meredith's mind. _When I finally meet my dad…_ Meredith thought of what she would say. She couldn't possibly yell at him, but she also couldn't possibly hug him right away. She knew at that moment that she could never completely forgive her father, whoever and wherever he was, for giving her away like a computer that wasn't what you expected when you took it out of the box.

"_Meredith_," Dumbledore's voice was stern. "You were not a mistake. Your father loves you, and you'll do well to remember it. He was ashamed of sending you away and not caring for you like a proper father should when I last spoke with him. Any other questions?"

Now that Dumbledore had firmly established the fact that Meredith's father loved her, but had practically abandoned her, there was no sense in asking any more questions about her family. She wished more than before that she had brought her list of questions with her.

"How come my magic didn't show up earlier?" she asked.

"You never willed it to," Dumbledore answered, obviously glad to have won the 'father' argument. Or maybe he was just glad that Meredith had finally accepted what he said as fact. "You were never in a situation that required magic, unlike Harry Potter, who, as I recall, re-grew a whole head of hair in one night after his aunt shaved it all off, and flew up to the roof of a building to escape bullies. Nothing like that ever happened to you because you never wished for it to. Although, I have to admit, all those times you couldn't sleep at night, I thought you would eventually knock yourself out by magic or break something. But because of all the science fiction novels you have read, you were half-convinced that something would happen if you tried to do magic, so it didn't come."

Meredith nodded, although she didn't completely understand what Dumbledore meant. A minute later, she understood. "Okay," she said.

"Any other questions?"

Meredith thought for a moment. She knew that no matter what she asked now, she would come up with another question fifteen minutes after she had left Dumbledore's office. Finally, she asked, "Professor, how do you Apparate?"

After finding out that only wizards seventeen and older were allowed to attempt Apparition, and she would learn how in a few years, Meredith went out of Dumbledore's office and down the now-still staircase into the regular corridor. She looked back and saw that the stone griffin was back in its rightful place and the staircase had gone.

She made sure the parchment map was still in her pocket, where she always kept it just in case she got lost, and challenged herself to get back to Gryffindor tower without it. Surprisingly, she _did_ manage to get there relatively quickly without getting lost once. In the common room, Meredith sat in a chair by some candles away from the through-traffic of the students who had slept in, and those who were going back to bed because they had only woken up for breakfast.

Meredith lit a candle by clearing her mind and willing the wick to ignite, and set to practicing freezing the flame so it was pleasantly warm to the touch. She burnt the ends of a few quills. When she finally didn't burn a quill, concentrating on keeping the flame cool, she pulled the quill out of the fire and slowly put her finger into the candle flame; it didn't hurt at all. She pulled her finger out of the fire. Professor Flitwick had been right about her needing to clear her mind before doing anything. Now she _could_ do just about anything, and without using an incantation! _That's it_, she thought. That's _the question for Dumbledore._

She quickly grabbed a small piece of parchment off the table and dipped the quill she was still holding into a bottle of ink nearby. She wrote:

_Questions for Prof. Dumbledore_

_1. Why can I do magic even without using spells?_

She thought for a moment about the past few days and wrote:

_2. If people have died during the Triwizard Tournament, why is it being brought back?_

_3. What is a prefect?_

She blew on the paper for the ink to dry, folded it, and put it in the back pocket of her jeans. She looked out the window at the clear blue sky and all the greenery of the outdoors. She decided that she would much rather practice the levitating charm outside than inside, so she stuck her wand in the inside pocket of her robes and went up to her dormitory to grab a first year level spellbook, which she _had_ brought to school, but did _not_ want to haul around all day for _one_ remedial class in the afternoon. She tucked the book under her arm and headed downstairs. She referenced her handy-dandy map to get to a corridor that opened up onto a courtyard with a big oak tree in the middle.

The courtyard was full of students talking excitedly about what their first day had been like. Some of them looked like they were doing homework in between pauses in their conversations. Meredith was so focused on finding an empty corner away from the crowds, she didn't notice a pale blond boy hop out of the oak tree and follow her with his two stocky "bodyguards."

Still searching for a corner to practice, Meredith heard a voice behind her, "Hey, Weasley."

She turned around and saw the blond boy who she had seen at the Quidditch World Cup with his cronies. "Um, hi," she said, trying to not make enemies with this guy, but knowing that it might be inevitable, judging by the mocking tone in the boy's voice. She couldn't remember his name.

"Personally, I didn't think there _were_ any more Weasley kids. Especially one without red hair and worn-out, hand-me-down robes. I do suppose those look a bit ragged, though." Meredith gaped at him. This kid was just plain _mean._ He looked her over. "How old are you, anyway?"

"Fourteen," she said, and walked away.

He followed her. "Your name is Meredith, isn't it? And the way you talk, you're not from here, are you? America?" He stood directly in front of her, blocking the path.

"Yes." And she walked around him. She had located a quiet spot next to the doorway out of the courtyard, and was heading for it.

He still kept pestering her. "So you're adopted?" the boy sneered, and his buddies laughed. "Why didn't you go to school in Canada instead?" He glanced at the book Meredith was holding. "Or have you never even been to a wizard school?"

"No." She thought, _so that's one thing wizards and Muggles have in common. They can both be plain _mean. Luckily, Meredith had never had to deal with Muggle bullies, but unfortunately, that made her unprepared for this one. Only her third day at Hogwarts and she'd already made an enemy. She walked around the boy once more, still heading for the courtyard exit.

He asked, still pestering her, "Hey, Weasley, are you a squib?" He and his cronies laughed. Meredith had no idea what a squib was, so she kept walking. It sounded like it could be something bad.

Meredith's sort-of brother, Ron, came up to the blond boy and said, "Quit messing with my sister, Malfoy." He and Harry Potter stood protectively on either side of Meredith.

"I really didn't know you had another sister, Weasley. Did your parents send her away, say, because she was a squib?" the blond boy called Malfoy drawled.

"She's from an American Muggle family, you idiot. We adopted her this summer," Ron said. Then to Meredith and Harry, he said, "Come on. Let's go."

They walked away from Malfoy towards the side of the courtyard where Hermione was standing. Meredith looked back at Malfoy, and caught a last glance of Malfoy grinning more than ever, turning around, and walking away with his giant bodyguard friends.

"That's Draco Malfoy, by the way," Hermione told Meredith. "Don't bother with him."

"Yeah, he's always been a bloody prat," Harry pointed out.

"Um," Meredith said, and reluctantly asked what a prat was, and what a squib was.

The group she was with explained that a prat was a stupid person like Draco Malfoy, and a squib was a person whose parents were wizards, but the person had no magical talent. Sometimes wizard parents would still send their squib kids to school.

"If he just learned I'm not a squib, then why was he smiling like that just now?" Meredith asked.

"Because he just found out you're Muggle-born and now he'll spread the word about that," Hermione answered.

"But I'm not. And why should that matter?"

"It shouldn't matter, but the Malfoys are proud of being pure-blood wizards, so they insult Muggle-borns at every chance they get." She paused. "Wait, you say you're _not_ Muggle-born?" Hermione, Harry, and Ron looked extremely confused.

"Well, my American parents _were_ Muggles, but they weren't my actual parents." Her listeners looked eager for more, so she gave it to them. "My real dad sent me away to a family in America when I was only a few days old because he couldn't take care of me." It was only a small lie; it was actually one way that what Dumbledore had told her could be interpreted. "I'm pretty sure that both my parents were wizards, but Professor Dumbledore won't tell me their names. He says they'll come to me when they're ready. So, yeah," she ended.

"That's… Well, I don't know what that is," Hermione said. "I hope you find your parents."

"Thanks," Meredith said, and turned to Harry and Ron. "Thank you both for getting me out of that," she told them.

"No problem," Ron said. "That's what big brothers do for sisters who don't know the ropes yet." He paused, and then added, "You _are_ my _little_ sister, right? I'm March first."

"February fourteenth. I guess I'm older."

"Well, you're only a half a month older, so it doesn't count." They laughed.

"Anyway, I'd better get back to practicing." She indicated the first year spellbook. "So, bye."

"Bye." Harry, Ron, and Hermione went their way and Meredith went hers. She spent the next few hours levitating rocks and performing other spells from the first-year book. _Perhaps,_ she thought, _I _will_ be able to do this four years in one thing._

After a while, she got bored, so she tried to turn a rock into something else. A butterfly would be nice. She cleared her mind and thought hard about the rock transforming into a beautiful butterfly. It turned into a lovely purple monarch on her first try. Having magic was cool.

The next week went extremely well. Meredith managed to impress a few of her teachers: Hagrid in remedials when he left her by a tree in the forest while he checked on the creatures she would be learning about, only to find her riding a silver-white unicorn when he came back; Professor McGonagall when Meredith showed her the butterfly trick, only with a quill; Professor Flitwick when Meredith showed him how she could do any spell without knowing the incantation, and when he found out how many of the first year charms she had memorized.

Of course, there was the occasional snigger a Slytherin would throw her way, and she just plain _sucked_ at Divination and Herbology (she had never planted flowers in America that lived for more than a couple of days), but school was going exceedingly well from her point of view. She was actually having _fun,_ not just sitting in boring classes (like math) that she didn't want to be in.

The next Saturday, Meredith went to Dumbledore's office again, not because he had called her there, but because she had more questions. The list had expanded to:

_4. Are Hobbits real?_

_5. Why did the Sorting hat stop talking abruptly a minute after I put it on?_

_6. Are there Dragon Riders?_

_7. Why did it take you so long to track me down? _

_8. How is my American family?_

_9. Why aren't you on speaking terms with my father anymore?_

_10. Are there comics in the wizard newspaper?_

Sure, the last one was a bit easier to answer, but it was an honest question she had. Meredith walked up the stone steps to Dumbledore's office and knocked on the door, pulling the list of questions out of a pocket of her robes. Dumbledore _had_ said at the end of their last meeting that she could come back whenever, so Meredith didn't really feel invasive. It was just like going voluntarily to see the principal of a school.

As it turns out, Dumbledore wasn't talking to anyone else at that moment. Meredith asked her questions and somewhat got the answers.

For the first question, the professor asked for Meredith to do some magic without an incantation, so she grabbed a rock, which she had brought for the occasion, and turned it into a purple monarch butterfly. Then Dumbledore asked for her to turn a quill into something impressive, so she turned it into a flower, and then into a miniature flying crane, which flew onto a perch in the room, next to a magnificent fire-red bird. Meredith asked what it was, and Dumbledore told her it was a phoenix, Fawkes. Meredith remembered Mr. Ollivander telling her that her wand had a blue phoenix tail-feather core. So _this_ was one of those creatures, only a different color.

Dumbledore was silent for a while, and then said, "You are a very powerful witch, Meredith. I have told you that before."

They went onto the next question: if people have died in the Triwizard tournament, why was it being brought back?

Dumbledore answered, "The Ministry felt it was time for another attempt to bring it back. In the days of its existence, it was a very good way for wizards and witches from different countries to get to know each other. I doubt, with the new rules, that anyone will die this time."

Dumbledore answered the third question easily, "A prefect is a top student from years five and up. There is one girl and one boy prefect for each year for each house. In their seventh year, two prefects in the school become head boy and head girl. The heads of houses choose prefects."

For the next question, "Yes, hobbits are real. They prefer the hills of various continents. I remember meeting John Tolkien and visiting these curious creatures myself. They kept mistaking me for another wizard called Gandalf, which was odd. As it turns out, there was a whole world nobody knew about near there."

The fifth question was harder and more concerning, Meredith could tell. Dumbledore took the Sorting Hat from a shelf behind his desk and handed it to Meredith, telling her to put it on. "This should answer," he added.

Meredith put on the hat, letting it slip over her eyes so all she could see was the floor directly in front of her.

"I wasn't finished yet!" The hat said in Meredith's ears. "But I can tell you are already Sorted! How is that? I will tell you. A _wizard_ forced me to put you into Gryffindor, that's what happened. I heard his voice inside of me, 'Say Gryffindor, say Gryffindor.' So I did. That was not a right choice. You would have been better in Slytherin. Talent and perseverance and cleverness. Your questions would be answered sooner if you were in Slytherin. But, since you are already in Gryffindor, you must stay there. But truly, you should have been in Slytherin. That is all I have to say."

Meredith took the hat off and tried not to throw it across the room. She gave it back to Dumbledore, who set it back on its shelf. "Well?" he said.

"It told me that someone came into its mind and told it to say Gryffindor. It would've said Slytherin otherwise. And here's the weird thing: it said my questions would be answered sooner if I were in Slytherin, but to stay in Gryffindor since I'm already there. What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like."

"But I have a lot of questions."

"I know."

"But how would being in Slytherin have helped me figure that out?"

"You will learn the answer to that before the end of the school year."

Darn. Another question that Dumbledore wouldn't answer. She was beginning to hate his mysterious answers. It was her business to know, wasn't it? Stupid confidentiality.

The answer to the next question was that there were some Dragon Riders, but they were rare because only a few types of dragons are friendly and the fierce dragons were killing them.

The sixth question was harder for Dumbledore to answer, just like the one about the Sorting Hat. It wasn't hard because he didn't know the answer; it was hard for him to talk about the subject again. He knew that one word could change Meredith's whole perspective so she wouldn't want to go with her father when she met him.

Dumbledore was careful with his words. "Your father wanted to hide that he ever had a daughter, I think, so he hid you as best he could." There. He might just have ruined Meredith's life, but there was no nice way to say it. "You never did any magic, so I couldn't find you that way. I had only that small bit of magic you did when you were small, which gave you the lung disorder, to go by. Your father never told me where he sent you, or to which family. I only knew California. It took many years of long nights searching house by house, and not every night; only the days I could spare. That is why it took me so long to find you. As for why you weren't found by Canadian wizards, they do not look in the United States anymore. Americans are too anchored in reality to be wizards. Yes, there are some imaginative people, and most of them are writers and children, but there are only a few. And besides, if Canadian wizards had found you, you wouldn't get to meet your real family."

Meredith nodded and asked the eighth question on her list, to which Dumbledore calmly replied, "Your American family is doing fine. A common cold has gone around, but they are all recovering quickly from it. Other than that, nothing eventful is happening there."

The following question was, again, harder for Dumbledore to answer without ruining Meredith's life all over again. "He was ashamed to see you again and have to face telling you the truth. He did not wish to do it, so he was angry that I found you. He is just now getting over that anger."

To the final question, "Comics? Occasionally, and they move like the pictures. But not the Muggle cartoons you are used to."

Meredith thanked the professor for answering her questions and left. She waited until she was in the corridor to let her frustration show. How could her father be angry that she was here, but also love her? Why wouldn't Dumbledore tell her who her father was? Yeah, yeah, she would know by the end of the school year, but it was only a week into the first term and she was already getting impatient. She hoped her father would buck up and at least send her a letter asking how she was doing or something like that.

But the next few weeks, Meredith was too busy with homework to wonder when her father was going to tell her who he was.

A week after her second meeting with Dumbledore, Meredith sat in the Gryffindor common room because it was too wet to work outside. _Gee, I could use some exercise,_ she thought. Sure, walking up and down stairs every day was some exercise, but Meredith needed something else to free her from all her stress. Normally, it would have been the run in gym class, but there was no gym at Hogwarts. Meredith resolved to wake up early the next morning and go for a run around the perimeter of the castle.

The next morning, Meredith woke up at 4:30 to her watch alarm and dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of old P.E. shorts that she had planned to use as pajamas. She had brought her running shoes to Hogwarts in anticipation that there would be a good place to run. She put them on, braided her waist-length dark curls, and tied them off with the special ribbons that actually stayed in her hair, unlike Muggle ribbons. She went downstairs onto the grounds, looked at the time, and started running.

It felt great to finally run without asthma, free of all coughing and wheezing. Only the pain in her legs and her side could stop her now.

But today that wasn't an issue. Tomorrow, she knew it might be, because of soreness, but for now she was free.

It took almost forty minutes of solid running; the castle was huge. However, Meredith still managed to arrive back at the common room before anyone else was awake. She showered and got dressed in her normal Saturday outfit of jeans and a T-shirt under Hogwarts robes. She brushed her hair and only then went down to breakfast, famished from her run.

After breakfast, Meredith went back up to the common room and finished her homework much more efficiently than she could have without the run.

So she ran every day, waking up at four thirty or five in the morning and making a lap around the castle, then going back up to Gryffindor tower to get ready for the day. This routine went on for two weeks, at which time Meredith got a running partner.

On a Thursday morning, Meredith woke up at her usual time and jogged down into the common room. Just as she was about to open the portrait door, a voice said from behind her, "Hey, Meredith. Where are you going?" Meredith started, and then turned around. It was only Neville, sitting in an armchair facing the portrait hole, with what looked like a failed attempt at the potions essay due that day on the table in front of him.

"Oh, hi, Neville. You startled me. I didn't see you there. I'm just going running right now, like I do every day. What are you doing up so early?"

"Potions essay," Neville said. "I'm trying to figure out more stuff to say. It's not going that well. And if I don't finish this one, I don't know what'll happen to me. You saw Professor Snape's face when I melted that cauldron the other day."

Meredith nodded. She remembered clearly Professor Snape's frightening expression of calm anger, and his strict, slow but scolding voice. "Do you want some help?" Meredith offered. She had finished the essay a few days ago.

"Yes! Thank you! But wait, weren't you going for a run? Why do you run anyway?"

"It's not a problem. One missed day of running won't mean anything. I run because it helps me concentrate if I've gotten some exercise, and exercise is good for you. If you want, you can come with me tomorrow." She thought to herself, looking at Neville's slightly chubby form, _you could use a little exercise._

"Sure, I guess. Do you leave about this time every day?"

"Yup."

"Great. Now, about this homework…"

For the next half hour, Meredith tutored Neville on what all the things in the book meant so he could add them in his own words to the essay. After she got him started on that, Meredith went back upstairs and got ready for the day. She put the books and supplies she needed into her bag and went back into the common room to find Neville stuck again, but on a whole different part of the text. She helped him again, and by 7:45, he was done and ready to turn in his essay.

"It's good to have someone other than Hermione to depend on now," Neville commented as they headed down to the Great Hall together.

The next day's run was a little slower because Meredith went at Neville's pace, but over the course of the months they went faster and—though Meredith kept this to herself—Neville thinned down quite a bit.

Life was going well. Meredith had friends, and Malfoy was so pathetic, he and the Slytherins didn't even matter.


	10. The Goblet of Fire

**Some of this chapter is copied from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Mostly Dumbledore talking, in case you wanted to know.**

Chapter Ten: The Goblet of Fire

At six o'clock on October thirtieth, Meredith went downstairs out to the front of the school with everyone else. They were waiting there to greet the two new schools that would be participating in the Triwizard Tournament.

At the front of the school, all the students stood tensely, waiting and expressing theories about how the other schools were going to arrive. "The train?" some were wondering. "Broomsticks?" Harry's recognizable voice came through the crowd. "Look!" a student called, pointing at the sky. A flying lump was coming towards the castle. No, not a lump; a carriage pulled by flying horses!

The huge carriage landed in front of the school. Hagrid stepped forward to tend to the horses, which were bigger than he was. Then a woman a bit taller than Hagrid, the headmistress of the school called Beauxbatons, stepped out of the carriage. Meredith never thought there could be such a height. Suddenly, her height of five feet, five inches, which had seemed perfectly normal before, seemed midget-ish. After the very tall woman, about twelve boys and girls in blue satin robes stepped gracefully out of the carriage and mingled with the crowd.

A few minutes later, a loud bubbling sound came from the lake and a whole ship popped out from its depths. Meredith thought it was an awesome ship, like one of those British ships on Pirates of the Caribbean, except without a flag. The ship belonged to Durmstrang. The students from Durmstrang—there were about as many of them as there were Beauxbatons students—came off the ship and melded into the crowd. They wore long warm robes and fur capes. Dumbledore greeted the headmistress of Beauxbatons and the headmaster of Durmstrang.

Then Dumbledore called everyone to come inside for the welcoming feast. Above each of the four tables in the Great Hall there was a large banner with the house symbol on it. On the wall behind the teachers' table hung a banner with the whole Hogwarts emblem on it, much larger than the individual house banners.

Meredith was surprised to see a familiar face in the crowd of Durmstrang kids headed toward the Slytherin table.

"Hey, Ron!" she said, sitting down at her usual place at the table between Ginny and Fred, and across from Neville, Ron, and Harry. "That's Viktor Krum!" She jerked her head towards the Slytherin table to indicate that he was there.

"I know!" Ron said back, a little harshly. "We tried to get him to sit over here, but he headed for those ruddy Slytherins!"

"Oh, well," Harry said. "You remember what Malfoy said on the train about Durmstrang, Ron."

"Yeah," Ron agreed solemnly, and Meredith decided not to ask what Draco Malfoy had said on the train. Whatever he had said, it probably wasn't worth hearing.

They saw the caretaker, whose name Meredith had learned a few weeks after the start of the term (along with the advice that she should avoid him because he could find a way to get anyone in trouble), was setting out four extra chairs at the teachers' table. Meredith heard Harry say, "But there's only two extra people. Why's Filch putting out four chairs? Who else is coming?" Meredith was wondering the exact same thing. Maybe each of the other schools had a top student who sat with the principal?

Just then, the teachers came into the Great Hall, and lastly, Dumbledore, the giant lady whose name was Madame Maxime, and the Durmstrang headmaster called Karkaroff entered and walked up to the front of the room. Dumbledore stood at his podium.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts, and—most particularly—guests," said Dumbledore, beaming around at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

A Beauxbatons girl laughed from the Ravenclaw table, loud enough to hear. Meredith had no idea what was so funny, but she was used to people laughing in class at random times in America, so she ignored it.

Dumbledore continued, "The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!" Dishes of food appeared on the tables, just like they had at the back-to-school feast. Today, there was much more variety. Most of the food was stuff that Meredith had never seen before. She tried some of the foreign dishes and found that she liked some.

About twenty minutes into the meal, a girl, the one from Beauxbatons who had laughed for no apparent reason during Dumbledore's welcome speech, came up to their table and asked, "Excuse mee, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

There was something unusual about the girl. For some reason, she seemed not quite human. Every aspect of her, from the sleek blond hair to the big blue eyes was perfect. Too perfect. Meredith hated it, but couldn't help the stab of envy she felt. She sunk down a little into her seat. She saw that there wasn't a single sign of acne on the girl's face, and she felt ugly. Too ugly to be seen. She wanted to go crawl into a hole and never face the world again.

She thought all of this in the second it took for Ron to turn purple and Harry to respond, "Yeah, have it." He pushed the dish towards the girl.

"You 'ave finished wiz it?" the girl asked in an unmistakable French accent.

"Yeah," Ron managed to say breathlessly. "Yeah. It was excellent." Meredith couldn't tell if he was talking about the food or something else. The girl picked up the dish and walked away too smoothly for any human over to the Ravenclaw table. _Definitely not human. Weird,_ Meredith decided, and she was grateful, for once, that she had acne on her face.

Meredith spotted two people she recognized sitting down at the teachers' table in the two empty seats Filch had set out. One was Ludo Bagman, the semi-crazy organizer of the Quidditch World Cup, and the other was Mr. Crouch, Percy's beloved boss.

Meredith's eyes widened as she snapped with one hand. "What?" Ginny asked. Meredith had almost forgotten the others were there.

"Oh, nothing," she answered, but that wasn't the truth. She had just remembered the World Cup and the Bulgarian team mascot: the veela. _That_ was what the blond girl looked like. She had to be a veela. But she couldn't be all veela because guys hadn't gotten up and done strange things to impress her. Meredith had definitely been right, though, about the not quite human thing._ Note to self,_ she thought, _n__ever make that girl mad or she'll turn into a flaming screeching bird-girl._

Desserts appeared on the table. Meredith saw Ron move a bowl of something so it was visible from the Ravenclaw table. He looked disappointed when the blond girl didn't come to their table again to get it.

After they had finished eating, Dumbledore stood up again to speak. A thrill of tension rippled throughout the hall. Everyone there seemed to lean forward just a little bit, waiting with great concentration for whatever was coming. Meredith didn't think she'd been in a room with so many kids that was so silent. School rallies never got this quiet, but that was America, for you.

"The moment has come," Dumbledore said smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket—"

_CASKET?_ What was _that_ all about? Did they have an oracle at Hogwarts like the old dead lady in the Percy Jackson books? But, explanation was explanation. _Finally, some of that_, Meredith thought.

"—just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation"—there was some polite applause—"and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." There was much more applause this time. Meredith guessed it was because Mr. Bagman looked by far more friendly and likeable than Mr. Crouch.

Dumbledore continued, "Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard tournament, and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

_Champions?_ Meredith asked herself. All the students leaned in closer. The attentiveness of all the listeners seemed to sharpen by one hundred percent.

Dumbledore smiled, and said, "The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

Filch, who had been standing hidden in a corner, brought out a wooden chest for all to see. The casket was encrusted with gems, and looked extremely old. All of the students craned their necks to get a better view.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," said Dumbledore as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table in front of him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways…their magical prowess, their daring, their powers of deduction, and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

At that last word, the hall became even quieter than it had been before, if that was possible. The silence was pressing.

"As you know, three champions compete in the Tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire." He tapped his wand three times on the casket lid and it slowly opened. Dumbledore reached inside and pulled out a wooden goblet. He closed the lid of the casket and set the goblet on top.

To everyone's surprise, blue flames sprouted out of the goblet and sat there.

"Anyone wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions will have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation," —Meredith was sure she saw Dumbledore's eyes rest on Fred and George for half a second—"I will be drawing an age line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross the line.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night, all."

They all got up from their seats. _Why does he keep doing that?_ Meredith wondered. _He talks about something cool that gets everyone all excited and then sends us off to bed. Not fair._

Fred and George started talking about using aging potions to get over the age line. _Smart idea,_ Meredith thought. _Maybe I should try that, too,_ the rebel side of her mind said.

_But I don't want to die in this tournament, which I probably will if I enter and become the Hogwarts champion,_ her conscience said.

_Yes, but you can do _anything_ and any type of magic if you put your mind to it,_ the rebel side said.

_Just go enter,_ a different voice than the rebel said. _Go on, enter. You'll be fine. Just enter your name. The age line won't do anything. Enter your name._

Meredith went into something like a trance and moved towards the entrance hall. She snapped out of it six inches away from the age line, which had been drawn around the Goblet of Fire while she had been waiting to get out of the Great Hall.

_What am I doing?_ Meredith asked herself. She turned around and walked up the stairs to Gryffindor tower. What she didn't notice was the figure hiding in the shadows of the entrance hall, wand out.

The next morning, Monday, Meredith went on her normal morning run with Neville. After breakfast, they walked to Herbology while Neville told Meredith about all the fantastic water plants he had learned about in the book Moody had given him on the first day. Meredith wasn't bored with the discussion at all. She was actually quite fascinated with how many magical plants there were that Muggles didn't know about.

After Herbology, they went to Hagrid's for Care of Magical Creatures, this time talking about the Triwizard tournament. Neville told Meredith about how Fred and George had used an aging potion, gotten across the line, but been flung out of the circle with matching grey beards. Both Neville and Meredith were curious about who the champions would be. Meredith didn't mention the voice in her head that had told her to enter.

After caring for the disgusting Blast-Ended Skrewts for an hour and a half, they went to lunch. Meredith asked about Halloween costumes, as she didn't see any around. "Do you ever dress in costumes or anything?" she asked.

"Not in the wizarding world, we don't. I have no idea whether the Muggles in this country do it or not. Why?"

"Oh, just today is Halloween and in America that's the day we all dress up and go from house to house asking for candy."

"And everybody does that?"

"No, just the little kids. I stopped going a few years ago. Instead, I would dress up in a costume and hand out candy at the door. It's a fun holiday."

They spoke no more until Divination, when Neville knocked over a crystal ball by bumping into it on their way out. Then Neville went to Gryffindor tower while Meredith went down to the greenhouses. All her remedial classes seemed extra-long because she was so anxious for them to end. She was too eager to learn whom the Goblet of Fire would choose to be champions.

Finally, after an hour of almost falling asleep because of the fumes in the Divination room, and being told that something tragic would happen to her soon, Meredith rushed down to the Great Hall. The feast seemed to drag on like her classes, longer than any other feast had. Meredith could feel the tension and anxiousness throughout the room. Everyone was eager to know who the champions would be. Finally, when the golden plates were clean and everyone had begun talking to each other, Dumbledore stood up.

Complete and utter silence fell upon the entire Hall. "Well, the goblet is about ready to make its decision," Dumbledore said. The goblet had been moved to a pedestal at the front of the room. "I estimate it will require one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber"—he indicated the door behind the staff table—"where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and gave a great sweeping wave with it; at once, all the candles except those inside the floating jack-o-lanterns were extinguished, plunging them into a state of semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire shone more brightly than anything in the whole hall; the sparkling bright, blue-whiteness of the dancing flames was almost painful to their eyes, but also strangely hypnotizing. Everyone watched, waiting. Meredith checked her blue watch to see if a minute had passed yet.

As Meredith looked up, the flames in the goblet turned red and started spitting sparks. A tongue of flame flew into the air and Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment that flew out of it. The fire in the goblet turned blue again.

"The Durmstrang champion," Dumbledore said, "will be Viktor Krum!" A storm of applause and cheering echoed through the hall.

When the noise had died down, the goblet turned red again and shot out another piece of parchment. "The Beauxbatons champion," Dumbledore read, "is Fleur Delacour!" Everyone applauded again as the girl who looked like a veela walked up to the front of the room. Everyone except, that is, the Beauxbatons girls who were crying their eyes out because they hadn't been chosen.

Silence swept over the room once again as the flames in the goblet turned red a third time, and spat out another slip of parchment. This would be the Hogwarts champion.

"The Hogwarts champions," Dumbledore said, "is Cedric Diggory!"

Meredith thought she heard Ron yell, "No!" but the uproar from the Hufflepuff table next door was too loud to tell. She recognized the boy they had traveled to the Quidditch World Cup with as he strode to the front of the room and through the door. It was a long time before the room was quiet enough for Dumbledore's voice to be heard.

"Excellent!" he called happily as the tumult died down at last. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, to give your champions every once of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real—"

But Dumbledore suddenly stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everyone what had distracted him. The fire in the goblet had just turned red again, and more sparks were flying out of it. It spit out another piece of parchment, which Dumbledore caught. He held it out and stared at the name. There was a long pause of complete silence, and then Dumbledore cleared his throat and read out—

"Harry Potter."

_WHAT? _Meredith thought, and Harry probably thought too. There was no applause, just disbelieving stares. _How did he get past the age line?_ Meredith wondered, then thought, _maybe he got a little voice inside his head like I did._ Sudden realization dawned upon her. _Oh my gosh, I was Imperiused. But Harry could've resisted it, like that one day in class when Moody Imperiused him and Harry fractured both his kneecaps on the desk. He wouldn't have put his own name in the goblet._

By that time, Harry had gone up and through the door the other champions had. He looked incredibly surprised and a bit scared. A few of the professors, Mr. Bagman, and Mr. Crouch followed him through the door. The Goblet of Fire went out.

One by one, students started to get up out of their seats to head towards the dormitories. A great deal of the gossip Meredith heard was about the fourth champion. _Poor Harry,_ Meredith thought. _He probably didn't even want to be a champion, and now everyone's going to be whispering about him…_

Meredith got ready for bed back in Gryffindor tower and lay in her bed for a long time with the curtains closed. A part of her secretly wished that she had been the fourth champion and hadn't resisted the Imperius curse. But a different part of her was glad she wasn't competing. People _had_ died in the tournament, after all. _But_, the other part of her argued, _nobody can die this year because of the new regulations_.

_I still wouldn't want to risk it,_ she decided, and eventually fell asleep once the noise from the party in the common room had died down.

* * *

P.S.: In response to a recent guest review, I'd like to let you all know that in the book there are both boys and girls from Beauxbatons, and both boys and girls from Durmstrang. In the movie, there are only girls at Beauxbatons and only boys at Durmstrang, but I'm following the book here.

Thanks for reading and reviewing!


	11. Guessing Again

Chapter Eleven: Guessing Again

Nothing eventful happened during the next few weeks. Meredith spent all her free time doing homework, which she had loads of now, and trying to guess who her father was. (Half of that time was spent wishing her father was someone.) Lately, she had been guessing Hagrid, even though most evidence pointed to no for him. He was a giant, and Meredith was a normal sized human; he was so nice, but only a mean father would have sent her away; he kept saying, "Great man, Dumbledore is," when Meredith knew for a fact that her father wasn't on speaking terms with Dumbledore anymore.

Nevertheless, Meredith couldn't help but wish that Hagrid was her father. He was so enthusiastic about all the creatures they came across in the Forbidden Forest, even the giant spiders he took Meredith to see. _How_ anyone could be excited about giant spiders, Meredith had no idea; she wouldn't go near them. The pixies they came across were fine, even to the point of being awesome, until one bit Hagrid's finger and flew away, laughing. Pixies could be cruel little devils, Meredith learned.

So Hagrid wasn't her father. Oh, well.

Other male wizards old enough to have a kid (or at least, the ones that Meredith knew): Dumbledore. _Oh my gosh_, she thought. _What if I'm Dumbledore's grandkid? _That_ would be weird. _But that she knew of, Dumbledore didn't have any kids, which meant he couldn't possibly have any grandkids. So she dismissed that theory.

Snape? Eew! How _he_ could ever have managed to get a wife, she had no idea. Although, he certainly would be mean enough to have sent her away…

But not kind enough to resent it. Just a few days ago, he had insulted Hermione to her face. It was before class when Draco Malfoy (the little snot) was teasing Harry, who got angry. They each had fired curses and Malfoy's hit Hermione and made her teeth grow like fangs down her face. Snape had said that he saw no difference whatsoever in Hermione's face, and she had run away crying, probably off to the hospital wing. Then Harry and Ron (not Malfoy and his friends) had gotten detention. Potions was no longer Meredith's favorite class after that, and she went through remedial potions with a static attitude. In conclusion, Snape was definitely not her father.

Flitwick? Once again, it came to the size issue. Flitwick was too small and kind to be her father.

She considered the Ministry of Magic Triwizard judges, and she wished so hard her head hurt that neither one of them was her father.

Moody? Um, no, thank you.

If Meredith had a favorite professor, it would be McGonagall, the patient but strict Transfiguration teacher. She was like a mother to all Gryffindors andseemed to _enjoy_ teaching. She wasn't like some of those teachers in America who would give fifty problems of homework for no reason, and without explaining how to do the problems. Every homework assignment for Professor McGonagall's class had a purpose, an objective, which made it worth doing. Meredith wished that her mother weren't dead, because then she might have gotten away with calling herself McGonagall's daughter for a while. But that wasn't possible anyway. Professor McGonagall was at least sixty years old. So instead, Meredith pretended that McGonagall was her really cool grandmother. She didn't tell anyone else about this, though. The only students who knew about Meredith's past were Harry, Ron, and Hermione. As far as Meredith knew, the secret hadn't leaked out to anyone else. She hadn't even told Neville during their morning runs. Nobody knew, and she wanted to keep it that way.

Speaking of morning runs, Meredith and Neville had gained more running friends. They now had a group of more or less ten people running every day around the castle. Most of them were younger Gryffindors, but that didn't matter.

On Monday, November 21st, Meredith was walking through the forest with Hagrid after having dealt with the skrewts for fifteen minutes. "You excited fer the first task, Meredith?" Hagrid asked her while they were looking for signs of bowtruckles.

"Yeah. When is it?"

"This comin' Saturday."

_Saturday?_ How come this hadn't been floating around school? "I didn't know that. It should be exciting. I can't wait to see what it'll be."

"Come on, Meredith. This can be part o' yer lesson. I'll show yeh, if you don't mind me spoilin' the surprise. Jus' promise not ter tell anyone."

"I promise," Meredith said, and they walked away from the bowtruckle trail and deeper into the forest.

During the silent walk, Meredith half expected and half wished that Hagrid would turn to her and say in a Darth-Vader-ish voice, "Meredith, I am your father," and they would both laugh at the geeky Star Wars joke that was true and live happily ever after. But it didn't go that way. In fact, Meredith didn't live happily ever after until many years in the future.

They came to a clearing where groups of people were dealing with chains and huge closed crates. There were scorch marks on the ground and the crates.

"Stay here. Don' go any closer. Jus' watch," Hagrid told her. So they just stood at the edge of the clearing.

The crates burst open. Inside there were metal cages, and inside the cages were four great big _dragons_. They roared and rattled their metal prisons, occasionally spitting a stream of fire and scorching the poor earth even more than it already was.

Meredith stood there next to Hagrid in awe. "They're beautiful," she finally managed to say. It was completely true. The dragons stretched their long colorful necks, their muscles tensing and relaxing underneath hard scales. Every detail was outlined clearly against the darkening blue sky, their bright scales reflecting the dimming sunlight.

"Aren' they?" Hagrid said. "I'm glad yeh think so too. Always wan'ed a dragon, I have. Got an egg few years ago; had ter give the dragon away, though. Sen' 'im to Romania to yer brother Charlie. In fact…"

Charlie Weasley walked up to them and shook hands with Hagrid. "Hey! Well, look who it is!" he said, and then turned to Meredith. "How's school, sis?"

"Going well."

"Good, good. You'll keep all this" —he indicated the dragons—"a secret, won't you?"

"Of course. These are for the tournament, right?"

"Sure are."

"Epic."

"Er, epic?"

"Exciting, you know." Meredith still hadn't gotten used to which words were commonly used in the wizard world and which ones weren't.

They talked to Charlie for a few more minutes until Hagrid looked at the sun and then at his wristwatch. "Blimey!" he said. "We'd better go, or ye'll be late for yer next class, Meredith. Good talkin' with yeh, Charlie." So they went back to Hagrid's hut and Meredith took off for remedial Divination, during which Meredith desperately tried to see her father's face in a crystal ball while Professor Trelawney was doing one of her, "You must look _beyond!_" speeches. But all Meredith could see were clouds blowing around in there. What everyone said was true; Trelawney was a big fraud and Divination was worthless.

The rest of the week went relatively smoothly. By Thursday, everyone knew when the first task was, and everybody was, for lack of a better word, pumped. The first task dominated all the corridor conversation and dinner table conversation. Everyone was wondering what it was except Meredith, and probably Harry, judging by an overheard conversation in the common room. Judging by that same conversation, Harry had no idea what to do to complete the task. Meredith was glad nobody had put _her _name in the Goblet of Fire. Not that she would likely have been chosen, but if you entered there was a _chance_ that you would be chosen. No matter how small that chance was, Meredith wasn't willing to risk taking it.

On Friday evening after remedial charms but before dinner, Meredith went to Dumbledore's office. Not that she thought he would tell her who her father was _now_, but maybe she could get an update on her father's guilt status.

"Um, sherbet lemon," she said, and the stone griffin turned into a staircase.

Once again, nobody was in Dumbledore's office and Meredith was told to come in and sit down.

"His courage is rising," Dumbledore said even before Meredith had asked her question. "He _will_ keep his promise, Meredith. That, I know. You will simply have to be patient. I could not tell you who he is, even if I wanted to. It is a secret and if I did tell you, you would end up being angry with me for it and so would your father. You are not ready to know. Does that answer your question?"

"Um, yeah," Meredith said, a little creeped out that Dumbledore had read her mind. "Wow. But can you tell me if I've met him in the last three months?"

"No, I cannot tell you that."

"Okay. I didn't think you could. Thanks anyway."

"You are welcome. I am sorry I cannot give you more information. You will simply have to wait. Goodbye." As Meredith was leaving, Dumbledore added, "The next password will be 'cockroach cluster' in case you wish to come back.

Meredith nodded and left, wondering what kind of password 'cockroach cluster' was.

So the facts were clear:

1. Meredith's father wasn't going to tell her who he was until he was ready, which would definitely be by the end of the school year.

2. Dumbledore couldn't tell her anything else about him.

3. She probably hadn't met him yet.

4. It wasn't Hagrid.

Meredith worked late on her weekend homework to finish it before the first task the next day, which started at nine in the morning. Around 9:30 that evening, Meredith gave up because she was too tired to think and too distracted to think of anything other than what Dumbledore had told her, or, more accurately, what he hadn't told her.

The next morning, Meredith woke up early due to excitement and ran her daily three miles with Neville and their group. At 8:30, all the students walked to a giant arena to watch the first task.

Meredith thought the competition was amazing. The dragons each guarded a golden egg that the champions had to get. Even though the first three champions nearly died, Meredith was still convinced that the dragons were the most beautiful creatures in the world.

When it came to Harry's turn to fight the dragon, Meredith saw Charlie and a few other people she didn't know chain the largest, fiercest-looking dragon to the middle of the arena. _Oh my gosh, he's going to die,_ Meredith thought.

But surprisingly, Harry managed to summon his Firebolt from the castle and fly away from the dragon on it, taunting it by flying higher and higher.

The chain holding the dragon to the middle of the arena snapped and the dragon flew higher after Harry. Meredith gasped with the rest of the crowd. _Okay, maybe he is going to die. Please don't die._

For a while, the air was filled with deafening roars and screams of students fearing being eaten or lifted into the air and dropped from a great height.

The next moment, there was a huge crash, and all went silent. _Oh no._

Then Harry came flying into the stadium alive, but looking terrified and exhausted. He scooped up the golden egg as he landed. _Well, at least he's alive,_ Meredith thought. _But poor dragon! I hope it's not dead, even though it probably is. ANIMAL CRUELTY!_

Harry got his score, like the rest of the champions had, and went into the medical tent, also like the other champions had. The students went back to the castle.

In the common room, there was a huge party for Harry. Meredith put on a cloak and went outside to sit by the lake to practice charms and finish writing an essay that was more enjoyable to write than any English essay that year would have been.

After a while, she got bored with performing spells that she could have easily done without an incantation, so she turned rocks into butterflies and leaves into flowers, roses in particular. By the time she left, there was a flowerbed full of roses and tulips by the shore of the lake.

The next few months brought colder weather. Meredith still spent her free time guessing who her father could be. Dumbledore hadn't said it was necessarily someone she knew, but that didn't imply that it wasn't someone she knew. But after a while, Meredith concluded that it couldn't possibly be someone she knew, so she gave up guessing for the time being.


	12. The Yule Ball

Chapter Twelve: The Yule Ball

In early December before classes let out for the winter holidays, Professor McGonagall called an all-Gryffindor (fourth year and up) meeting in the Great Hall. Everyone who was staying at school over winter break, which was nearly everybody because of the Triwizard tournament (now Meredith understood what Mrs. Weasley had been talking about as they had left on the Hogwarts Express back in September) came to the meeting and sat in the benches that were pushed against opposite walls. The house tables had disappeared.

Professor McGonagall told them about the Yule Ball, the Christmas dance that was a tradition for the Triwizard tournament to include. First, McGonagall demonstrated how to waltz (with Ron) and then they each got into partners and practiced.

Meredith doubted that she would be going to the dance as a _dance_ with someone because she had never ever gone to a dance with anybody but her group of friends. But there was no harm in _learning_ how to waltz, she decided. For all she knew, she might need it later in her life. But she was certain that nobody was going to ask her to _this_ dance. She was the new girl.

Meredith found herself dancing this time with Ron after he gladly escaped Professor McGonagall. It was a little weird dancing with Ron because they still considered themselves siblings.

After a few hours of terror and major flinches (because, you know, in a waltz, the girl's hand goes on the boy's shoulder and the boy's hand goes on the girl's waist) and being criticized and corrected by Professor McGonagall, they left the Great Hall for the common room. Most people were working on homework or making fun of McGonagall dancing, but in a nice way.

Over the next few weeks, the subject of most conversation was not the first task, but the Yule Ball. Everyone seemed to think it was all about getting a partner to go with. Meredith wasn't worried about that; she assumed she would be going with a group of friends. But when she found out that almost all her roommates, including Hermione, were going with a guy, she began to think seriously about finding a boy to go with, even if it was just as friends. The only problem was that she had to wait for a boy to ask _her_ because in the wizard world, it wasn't proper for a girl to ask a guy out. Meredith had never liked it anyway that girls asked guys out in the Muggle world, and it wasn't as if she had anyone in particular she wanted to ask. For weeks she worried about it.

Meredith wondered why, if geeky Hermione was able to get a date (even though she wouldn't tell anyone _who_ it was) _she_ couldn't get one. It was almost Christmas, the day of the ball.

A week before the Yule Ball, Meredith was sitting in the Gryffindor common room reading a book from the library. Ron came through the portrait hole being supported by Ginny and Hermione. Meredith listened in for a while. Harry came over from another table and asked them what had happened to make Ron look that shaken up. As it turns out, Ron had just asked Fleur Delacour, the veela girl, out to the Yule Ball, but not entirely on purpose. "It all just slipped out," he said sadly.

_So,_ Meredith thought, _Ron isn't going with anyone. Shoot! I can't go with him! He's my brother!_

Parvati Patel happened to be passing through the common room at that moment. "Hey, Parvati?" Harry called over to her. "Do you want to go to the Yule Ball with Ron?"

Parvati giggled. "Sure." Then she continued on her way.

"Great, Ron. That's taken care of. Now you have someone to go to the ball with!" Harry said. _Yeah, way to go, Ron. Now I'm the only girl in my dormitory to not have a date! Thanks._

"And you don't, Harry! You're a champion! Better find someone soon!" Ron said.

Harry looked around the room for a girl. Meredith tried to look like she was reading instead of turning red. _Shoot, what if he asks _me_?_ Harry walked over towards Meredith's chair.

"Hey, um, Meredith?" Harry asked. Meredith looked up from her book. "Um," Harry looked back at Ron, Ginny, and Hermione. Ron nodded. "Do you want to go to the ball with me?" Harry asked.

Meredith had been prepared for the question, but she wasn't prepared with an answer, which is why she hesitated answering for about thirty seconds. Then she cleared her throat and said, "Sure, Harry. I'll go with you." It wasn't like anyone else was going to ask her, and she kind of _liked_ Harry. _And_ (score Meredith!) he was a champion…

Who people from the other houses now hated because they thought he had put his name in the Goblet of Fire when every other underage person had failed to do so without getting a beard. Oh, well. Most of that hate was gone anyway. And she knew that Harry _didn't_ put his name into the Goblet of Fire. Harry never would have done anything that stupid.

Meredith wondered if Harry genuinely _liked_ her, or if he was just trying to get a date because he would look like a stupid loner if he didn't have one. Probably the second option, but that didn't matter. _Meredith_ was going with the Gryffindor champion who had defeated the dragon (poor dragon) in the coolest way.

Remedial classes were going full blast now that normal classes had let out. Meredith had kept her regular schedule of normal classes, but now they were all remedials. It made for shorter days, getting out at latest at 4:40, but a lot more work now that she didn't have any regular classes to juggle as well. She liked and hated the one-on-one attention. Maybe agreeing to do four years in one had been a wise choice after all. She was already halfway through the third year material in all the remedial classes. It was moving fast, but that happened to be just the right pace for her. She began to worry about being bored with just normal classes in future years.

Remedials let out a week before Christmas. Meredith was glad to be finally free from the workload, but still kept studying and reviewing and turning rocks into butterflies which floated around in the castle until they froze and died. She had gotten rather good at creating butterflies, though, and could imagine any design, even a person's face, and create a butterfly with that on its wings. Instead of having her butterflies freeze to death, Meredith started magically shaping snow into perfectly round spheres and hurling them at trees.

Meredith had never seen snow in her entire life. Her family had never gone on winter trips to Tahoe to go skiing or snowboarding. It had never snowed where she lived. So, when the first snow of the winter came and Meredith looked out the window, her first thought was, _What _happened _to the world?_ She figured it out after a few seconds, having seen television shows and movies in which it snowed. It was cold, but fresh to her, like a really cold glass of water on a hot summer day. She loved it. Since it had first snowed, she did not run outside with her group, but ran up and down stairs in the castle and did an endless number of pushups in the common room. Neville especially hated doing those.

The Monday before the week of Christmas and the Yule Ball, all the students in third year and above were allowed to go to the village of Hogsmeade. There had been previous trips, but Meredith had always been too busy with homework to go then. This time, she brought her money, hoping to buy Christmas presents for her friends and adoptive family.

For Mrs. Weasley, she bought a box of chocolates and a thank you card. For Mr. Weasley, she wrote down all the Muggle fairytales she could remember and bound them into a rough book. For Neville, she got a herbology book with actual samples of plants in it. For Harry, who she felt the need to give a gift to because he was taking her to the ball, she got a cute card with moving penguins and polar bears on it. For Ron, she got a card and some chocolates. For Hermione, she got a really thick book that looked interesting. (She found that there were more informational books than light fiction books in the bookstores. That disappointed her a little bit. She hoped it would take Hermione more than a day to read through this whole book.) For Ginny, she got an assortment of candy and a card.

After she finished shopping for Christmas presents, Meredith went to a tea shop and bought herself some hot cocoa. Then she went back to the castle to hang out in the common room.

It was nice to be able to sit and do nothing all that week, aside from studying a little. She still couldn't understand why she needed to memorize all these spells if she could just clear her mind and do whatever magic she wanted without an incantation.

The week passed by quickly; Meredith almost forgot when Christmas was until the evening before it. She had already wrapped all the gifts she was giving with wrapping paper she had bought in Hogsmeade, so she was all set with those. She remembered to put them under the tree in the common room on Christmas Eve. She mailed the packages for her adoptive parents with owls from the school owlery.

That night, unlike many Christmas nights before, Meredith slept soundly and did not wake up until morning.

She awoke to the sound of scuffling feet and squeals of delight. Obviously, someone had gotten a great Christmas present. Meredith got up and the first things she saw at the foot of her bed were _presents_. She had been so concerned about what to give others that she had completely forgotten that others might give _her_ gifts as well. She quickly went to the bathrooms to change into day clothes, and came back to her dormitory.

She opened her presents from all her friends. There were about six: one from Ginny, one from her adoptive parents, one from Ron, one from Harry, one from Hermione, one from Neville, and one that didn't say who it was from. Most of her friends had gotten candy for her, like chocolates and a package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. Some had gotten books for her. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had given her a hand-knit purple sweater with a letter M on it (M for Meredith).

Then she came to the small box wrapped in brown paper that didn't say who it was from. Meredith opened it and an envelope fell out of the paper. Before opening the plain box inside the wrapping, Meredith picked up the letter, wondering if this could have been given to her by mistake. The envelope read: "To Meredith Lily." That was her, all right. Obviously, the letter hadn't been delivered by mistake. But _who_ was it from? She didn't recognize the handwriting, so it probably wasn't from someone she knew.

Meredith slowly tore open the envelope. There wasn't a colorful Christmas card inside, only a single slip of parchment. It read:

_My Dearest Daughter Meredith,_

_This was your mother's before she died. She wore it every day I knew her. Now it belongs to you. _

_-Dad_

_P.S: I am sorry. I hope you will forgive me._

_For what? For sending me away or that I got brought back?_ Meredith whispered to herself, a little annoyed. Her father could have at least named himself. More writing appeared on the page:

_For sending you away. It was very wrong of me. I am sorry. Truly._

Then the letter burned itself to ashes in the palm of her hand.

There was nothing else in the envelope. Short and minimally sweet. Meredith appreciated that her father had thought of sending her something, but also angry that he hadn't named himself. Meredith told her anger to be quiet, and opened the tiny box. She gasped.

Inside was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen. The chain was silver link with a tiny pin-clasp. On its own, the chain would have been magnificent, but at the same time, not _too_ magnificent. The pendant was even more beautiful: a leaf-like almost transparent piece about the size of an American quarter. It looked like a mixture of spider web and sterling silver. It sparkled in the light, but modestly, as if it didn't want to show off. Altogether, it was beautiful. Meredith wanted to put it on, but then thought about what she would be saying by wearing it: that she accepted the gift from her father as a peace offering of sorts, and forgave him. But did she really forgive him? Did she forgive him for abandoning her when she was little, and being too cowardly to reveal himself to her now? The letter said he was sorry. But if he was really sorry, he might have included a name in the signature instead of just _Dad_. Did he deserve to be forgiven?

Meredith decided yes. He had given her mother's necklace to her, which he had obviously kept all these years. How long had he been living in regret? She could only wonder.

Meredith ran a finger down the edge of the webbed leaf. It looked so fragile. She wondered how it had survived being worn every single day.

She carefully put it back in its box.

That day was great, but the greatest part about it was the Yule Ball.

At five o'clock that evening, all the girls who were going to the ball gathered in the dormitory bathrooms with their gowns and makeup. Everyone had a great time trimming each other's hair, styling it, doing their makeup, and getting ready.

Meredith helped cut hair and paint nails. Then the other girls insisted that she start getting ready as well. She was, after all, going with _the_ Harry Potter, _the_ Gryffindor champion. They trimmed her hair, the bangs in particular, which had grown out so long that they covered her eyes. They brushed her dark curls and even put a little makeup on her face. Meredith hadn't worn makeup since she entered the wizarding world. It felt weird to be wearing it once more.

Soon everybody, including Meredith, was all ready to go down to the ball. It was only 7:30 and the ball started at eight o'clock. The girls all went down into the common room to find their dates.

But instead of going with the crowd, Meredith went back to her dormitory.

She picked up the little box her father had given her for Christmas and pulled out the necklace. She felt once more the smooth silvery leaf. It was as beautiful now as it had looked that morning.

She unclasped the chain and put on the necklace, thinking, _Maybe tonight I'll find out who my real father is._ Then she realized how slim the chance of that was. Her father had just given her a Christmas present, and that didn't mean he was going to come. How would he be getting to Hogwarts anyway? No, he probably wouldn't be coming to the Yule Ball to tell her. Oh, well. She could wait. A gift was enough for now.

Meredith took one last look at herself in the dormitory mirror, and was surprised to see that she actually looked _pretty_. Her electric-blue eyes perfectly went with the ocean blue ankle-length long-sleeved gown she was wearing. It had a thin-fitting bodice and sleeves, and an appropriate neckline, which she liked. Meredith's long 'ebony' (as Dumbledore had rightfully called them) curls fell down her back all the way to her waist in waves, free of their normal ponytail or braid.

Around Meredith's neck, her mother's necklace complemented everything. Meredith wore it proudly, as a symbol that her past wasn't completely bad.

She went down the dormitory stairs, careful to not trip over the hem of her dress, and walked into the common room. Harry was waiting there for her, even though many couples had already gone out the portrait hole and downstairs. As Meredith got to the bottom of the stairs, Harry offered her his arm like a gentleman should. Meredith took it and together they went downstairs to the Great Hall.

The rest of the champions and their dates were already standing outside the doors. The last of the students were filing into the Great Hall. Meredith caught sight of Hermione in a pink dress with Viktor Krum. So _that_ was who she was going with.

A walkway had been cleared between people from the doors of the Great Hall to a wide dance floor. It was then that Meredith got nervous. There were _so many_ people in there, and she would be dancing with Harry in front of them all? Her face was getting hot already. And it was probably getting red, too.

Professor McGonagall came up to them. "Are you ready to enter for the first dance?" she asked them all. Meredith nodded along with the rest of the people, even though she wasn't all that sure she would ever be ready to dance in front of the whole school. And it wasn't even just their school!

They entered the Great Hall, pair by pair. The crowd of students applauded loudly. Meredith smiled. She saw all her friends in the crowd waving and smiling. She waved back. And suddenly, Meredith felt invincible; her nerves disappeared and she stood up a little straighter, exactly Harry's height. Fleur Delacour was nothing compared to Meredith. Fleur was a model. Meredith was a natural, real person. She felt on top of the world. _She_ outshone that veela girl by far, and _she_ knew it. Her nearly flat chest and lanky long limbs didn't seem so disproportionate anymore. Meredith was, for once, glad to be herself, happy in her own body.

What Fleur looked like didn't matter anymore, because she was a flaming bird girl with anger issues in disguise. Fleur was all an act and boys fell for her because of magic. But Fleur wasn't going to the ball with _the_ Harry Potter, _was she_?

They reached the dance floor, Meredith with more self-confidence than she had ever possessed, and prepared to dance. Meredith could tell that Harry was a bit nervous about this whole thing, but once they started waltzing, everything was fine.

The first ones to join the dance were Dumbledore and McGonagall. Meredith found it interesting and, to an extent, funny to watch them. Next, other pairs of teachers and students started dancing. Pretty soon, Harry excused himself from the dancing claiming he was tired, even thought Meredith knew the real reason was that he wasn't really comfortable with dancing. So Meredith went off to find a group of friends. She found Neville, Ginny, and some fourth years and stayed with them, talking, dancing, and laughing. She even got compliments on her necklace and dress.

Meredith was sad when the ball ended at midnight, even though she was completely exhausted afterward. She barely had enough strength left to walk up all those stairs back to Gryffindor tower with the rest of her house. She knew she would be sore the next day from all that dancing, but that didn't matter at the moment.

Meredith quickly got into her pajamas and fell into her bed. She fell asleep with a smile on her face, having entirely forgotten her hopes of finding her father that night.

**Anyone like to take a guess?**


	13. The Last Weeks of Innocence

**This chapter contains dialogue from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, both the movie and the book. I don't own either. Nor do I own the Harry Potter world. **

**Hope you like cliffhangers.**

Chapter Thirteen: The Last Weeks of Innocence

Remedial classes started up again the next week, piling on work and things to memorize. At least it was all useful information and helpful homework. Meredith had had problems with homework in the past where it hadn't been relevant or worth her time. This homework was, probably because her teachers knew it was hard to do four years at once and didn't want to overload her brain. When regular classes began again, remedial work lessened severely.

Aside from all her schoolwork, Meredith was still trying to figure out who her father was. Maybe he didn't know what she looked like. Maybe he wasn't coming. Meredith wore her mother's necklace every day to solve the first of those problems. Besides, she wanted to have a good relationship with her father, and accepting a peace offering could be the first step to that. She wanted to forgive her father, not hate him. But she had to admit, she could never entirely forgive him for sending her away. Still, she couldn't entirely hate him either.

The second task of the tournament was coming soon. Meredith had heard that Harry didn't know what it was yet, but he had told Hermione that he was close to finding out. Everyone knew about his screaming golden egg and had heard it at the common room party the night after the first task. What clue anyone could discern from that, Meredith had no idea. The second task was in early February, coming up fast.

And so was Meredith's birthday. February the fourteenth, Valentine's Day, she would be turning fifteen. She was very excited, but also curious as to what would happen that day. Maybe her father would tell her who he was then. He _did_ know what day her birthday was, and she hoped he remembered. On the other hand, maybe he would just send her another mysterious note that self-destructed when she asked it a question. _How_ had he gotten it to do that anyway? Maybe the next letter would answer any question she asked it. She knew what she would ask.

But before her birthday was the second task of the Triwizard tournament, so she decided to focus on that for a while. The Friday evening before it, Meredith was walking down the corridor that led to the library when Harry Potter ran up to her coming out of the library.

"Hey Meredith!" he said, a little out of breath. "You're good at potions. Do you know if there's a potion that would help me breathe underwater for an hour?"

Meredith almost said, "No, but I could turn you into a fish," but then she realized that this was probably for the Triwizard task, and that would be cheating if she turned him into a fish. She honestly didn't know of any potion that could help Harry, so she said, "Sorry, but no. But there might be a plant that could help you, so why not ask Neville?"

"Sure! Thanks!" he said, and ran off to the common room to find Neville.

The next morning, the whole school was woken up at the normal time and at 8:30 was taken to a group of docks that stretched all the way across the lake. Meredith hoped they wouldn't break when all the students walked on them.

The docks didn't break, and the giant squid didn't extend a tentacle and grab anyone, either. Meredith assumed that the champions were going swimming in the lake, and she was right. She felt sorry for them, standing there in shorts and tank tops…

But _where_ was Harry? _There_ he was, running up the dock to his diving block with a bunch of red lines on his face. _Must've slept on a book_, Meredith thought.

Professor Dumbledore explained over the loudspeaker (his wand pointed at his throat) that something very precious to each of the champions was at the bottom of the lake and they would have one hour to retrieve it. A whistle sounded and all the champions dove into the water.

Except Harry. He hesitated for a moment and someone pushed him in. He didn't come back up. "What did you suggest to him, Neville?" Meredith asked Neville, who was standing next to her, leaning on the dock railing, and looking nervously at the dark water.

"Gillyweed, but I don't know if he managed to get any," Neville replied. Then he turned completely to face her. "Oh my God! I've killed Harry Potter!" Just as Neville said that, though, something with fins that looked a little like Harry jumped out of the water, did a flip, and went back down.

"No, you didn't, Neville! Look!" Meredith said, pointing. "Aw, you missed it. What does gillyweed do anyway?

"It gives you gills like a fish and fins for feet and webbed hands like a frog. The effects can last for an hour, depending on the amount consumed. The plant itself looks like a ball of worms."

"Yuck. And he _ate_ that?"

"Obviously, yes."

"Ew. That's gross." Meredith paused. "So who do you think will come up first?"

"I don't know, but I hope it's Harry."

"Me too."

The rest of that hour was pretty boring. They talked with friends, Meredith played some tunes on her fife, which she had brought in her pocket, Ginny complemented Meredith's necklace, and they tried to figure out _what_ the necklace was supposed to be.

"I think it's a silver leaf from a special forest," Neville inferred.

"Yeah, I think it's a leaf, too," Ginny said. "What do you think, Luna?"

"Why, it's a pixie wing, of course," Luna said in her usual airy manner.

"Why do you say that, Luna?" Meredith asked, removing her fife from her lips. She would have to play the Peter Pan cartoon theme some other time.

"It's the perfect shape of a fairy wing; just look at the tiny veins. It's probably coated in glass, though. Otherwise, it would be too fragile to have on a necklace."

"I see," Meredith said, but she actually didn't. How and why would her mother have gotten a fairy wing dipped in molten glass put on a necklace? Another mystery to be solved when she found out who her father was. That was the end of their conversation about the necklace.

Just minutes after they had started another conversation about when they thought the champions would come up and if they had drowned, Fleur Delacour came up out of the water and flopped onto the dock. A crowd of Beauxbatons girls went to her, wrapped her in a towel, and asked her what happened. From their rapid French, Meredith caught the words, "failed," "no," and "what now." Meredith wished she'd been able to take French 2 at Hogwarts, but the only language they offered was ancient runes.

Obviously, Fleur had failed to get whatever she needed to get. They waited for the rest of the champions to come up. Once more the thought that they had all drowned ran through Meredith's mind. But that couldn't have happened.

Cedric Diggory came up just before the hour was up. With him was the girl Meredith had seen him with at the Yule Ball. Her name was Cho Chang.

A minute later, Viktor Krum came up with Hermione. Someone threw towels over all their shoulders as they climbed onto the dock.

So this was the task: all the champions had to retrieve a person from the bottom of the lake. The people were all still alive…

But what about Fleur's person? Would he or she die? Would Harry die? The bell chimed that the hour was up. If Harry was at any great depth under the water, he was a goner for sure. And where was Ron? Probably underwater like Cho Chang and Hermione had been.

"Oh no," Neville whispered to himself. They were standing at the edge of the dock, once more leaning on the railing, looking frantically into the water, hoping Harry, or at least Harry's body, would float up. "I _have_ killed him," Neville said. "His hour is up. He'll be losing his gills now. Oh my gosh."

Ron came up out of the water with a young girl who couldn't have been older than thirteen. Ron helped her swim to the dock. Fleur extended a hand to help them out of the water. She hugged the girl and began speaking in faster French than Meredith had ever heard before. This time, Meredith caught the word "alright" and that was all. Fleur then searched the water. "But where iz 'Arry?" she said.

Where _was_ Harry, indeed? There was a disturbance of the water and up flew Harry, leaping out of the water and landing on his stomach on the dock. Hogwarts cheered louder than they had when Cedric came up. Gryffindors cheered the loudest.

Harry coughed up about a gallon of water, had a towel wrapped around him, and was slapped on the back by Ron about a thousand times. When Harry had finally stopped coughing, Fleur hugged him, saying, "Oh, 'Arry! You saved 'er, even though she waz not yours to save! Zank you!" She kissed him on both cheeks, then turned to Ron. "And you! You 'elped!" She hugged him and kissed his cheeks like she had for Harry. Ron's ears turned bright red.

Then Dumbledore announced the points. Fleur was in fourth, Viktor was in third, Harry was in _second_ (for 'outstanding moral fiber,' Dumbledore said), and Cedric was in first.

The task was over. Everyone walked back to shore on the dock and went to their common rooms, chatting about this task and what they thought the next one would be. Harry got teased quite a bit, especially by Fred and George, about Dumbledore's 'moral fiber' comment. But it _had_ been really brave of him to get Fleur's sister _and_ Ron from the bottom of the lake. He'd almost died down there! While they were in the common room, Meredith congratulated him for completing the task. She couldn't wait for the third task, which would be in June.

Meredith's birthday came quicker than she had thought it would. Before she knew it, the date was February fourteenth and she was receiving 'Happy Birthday's all over the place. It started with Harry saying it to her that morning at breakfast, but then spread around to the rest of the Gryffindors who had heard, and then to those who had heard those who had heard Harry tell her Happy Birthday.

Meredith got two or three candies from her friends and adoptive family. They were great, but the gift she was most anxious for was a simple letter from her father. Asking the paper just one question could change her entire life.

The letter came to Meredith not that morning at breakfast when the post normally came, but late in the evening when Meredith was up reading in bed. An owl tapped on her window with its beak and scared the wits out of her. Once she realized what was tapping on her window, she calmed down and got up.

This was _it._ This was the letter that would answer her one most important question.

She untied the envelope from the owl's leg and it flew off into the snowy night. She slowly tore open the envelope, sitting on her bed so if she fainted out of relief at finally _knowing_, she wouldn't get hurt. Meredith slowly unfolded the piece of paper the envelope contained and read it:

_My Dearest Daughter Meredith Lily,_

_First of all, Happy Birthday. Fifteen already. It seems like you were born just yesterday._

_Second of all, I want you to know that I __will__ keep my promise to you. As I said last time, I am sorry for doing this to you. It was the wrong thing to do. I'm sorry I didn't watch you grow up for these past fifteen years. I wish I could have. I should not have sent you away. I cannot express enough how sorry I am._

_Third of all, you might have learned from my previous letter that this paper will give you my answer to any one question you ask. Then it will burn itself. _

_Choose your question wisely._

_I Love You,_

_Dad_

So that was it. That was all she had: one question to ask and then the letter would self-destruct, burning itself to ashes in her hands.

That was stupid.

Meredith considered that maybe she shouldn't ask the paper a question. Maybe she should keep the letter forever and never ask it a question. She would find out the answer to her one question by the end of the school year anyway. What was the point in destroying her birthday letter, the first happy birthday she had ever received from her father, by asking it a question that she just had to be patient to learn the answer to?

No, she wouldn't ask the paper what the name of her father was. She would keep the letter somewhere safe, away from questions, forever.

Meredith put the letter in the top drawer of her dresser and shut it. She would just have to be patient.

But that wasn't easy. Knowing that she had access to the answer to her biggest question of all time was hard on her. She was only a few words away from _knowing_, but chose not to ask. Several times, she woke up at night wondering who her father was. She would pull the letter out of the drawer and, at the last second, stop herself from asking the question. There were quite a few of those occasions. It took all her willpower to stop herself sometimes.

School was still going well for Meredith. She still had a lot of work, though, and remedials made her exhausted by the time she got back to the common room. She was still succeeding at all her charms, and was getting much better at potions, thanks to Professor Snape's tips. Meredith was still excelling most in that class, despite having the meanest teacher in the school. She was also getting better at herbology, now that she had gotten over her fear of the plants' snake-like tendrils, and thanks to Neville's help. He was also doing better in potions because of her help. He hadn't melted another cauldron all year.

Even with all her work, Meredith still got up earlier in the morning than everyone else to go running with Neville and their club of friends. There was still a little snow falling every once in a while, so they stayed inside some of the time. When it had started to warm up, they began going outside more often. Neville was _very_ glad to be rid of pushups.

Spring had sprung! The snow melted and everything was green again. There was still an occasional rain, but the sun was out most of the time. All of the students were enjoying the nice weather.

Soon the end-of-the-year exams were upon them all. Meredith's teachers kept reminding them all to study, and Meredith did as much as possible. She had gotten all the way through all the previous years' material in her remedial classes, so she did mostly review in those. She had done it! She had done four years in one successfully! Meredith was quite proud of herself.

The final exams were in the Great Hall for one subject each day. Half of the school took one subject exam in the morning and half took it in the afternoon. This left them with a lot of free time, during which Meredith studied even more. Lucky Harry! He and the rest of the champions were exempt from the exams.

The third task came sooner than Meredith thought it would. Soon after the final exams, the students were notified that in the middle of June the third task would take place on the quidditch field on a Saturday at twilight. Maybe it had seemed like so long of a wait for everyone else between the second and third tasks, but to Meredith it felt like only a month. Then she realized how long she had been away from her home in America: almost a whole year. Schools there would be letting out for summer vacation. She remembered her friends and hoped they remembered her too.

It was the Friday before the day of the third task. When Meredith had finished with the last of her exams, she met Mrs. Weasley and some of her other adoptive family in one of the corridors. They were staying in the village of Hogsmeade and were there to watch the third task. All the champions' parents were coming to watch it, so they came in place of Harry's parents since they were almost like his family. His mean aunt and uncle would never come here anyway.

Mrs. Weasley asked if Meredith had received the Christmas and birthday gifts from them, and she said yes and thank you to them. She had worn the purple knit sweater every Saturday since she had received it.

That was the end of their short meeting, since the Weasleys had to attend a meeting with Harry and the other champions and the other champions' families. Meredith went up to the common room to review the lessons from previous years.

On Saturday morning, Meredith got up early, went for her daily run, and went outside to sit by the lake. It was a beautiful day; the sun wasn't too bright because of the clouds in the sky, and the air was perfectly crisp and cool. Meredith hoped it didn't rain for the third task.

Meredith spent the rest of that day relaxing, glad that the exams were done, and practicing her fife. She spent hours by the lake playing random tunes she remembered from the Muggle world. Meredith also hypothesized once more about who her father was. She was again tempted to go get her birthday letter and ask it, but didn't. _Patience,_ she reminded herself.

At twilight, Meredith went with her friends to the quidditch field and sat in the stands. A giant hedge maze had been growing on the quidditch field for a few months; Meredith had seen it from her window. All the champions were now on the field between the stands and the maze.

Meredith sat with Neville, Ginny, Luna, Ron, and Hermione, like she had for all of the previous tasks. This time her adoptive family was sitting close to their group. Meredith couldn't wait for the task to begin, but she knew Harry could. Just standing there looking up at the crowds of people filing into the stands, he was probably worrying himself sick about dying. It was, after all, the third and most difficult task. He had already almost died plenty of times.

The champions would have to make their ways to the center of the maze, facing the dangers inside the maze on their way. Meredith hoped nobody would die in there. The maze sure looked dangerous. A grey mist hovered over the whole thing, giving it a veiled and mysterious appearance. It was a little intimidating, to be perfectly honest.

Ludo Bagman's voice echoed through the stadium, "Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand: tied in first place, with eighty-five points each—Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts School!" The cheers and applause sent birds from the Forbidden Forest fluttering into the rapidly darkening sky. "In second place, with eighty points—Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" More applause. "And in third place—Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!" They all politely applauded for Fleur, because not that many other people were. Meredith made eye contact with Harry and waved. He waved back.

"So…on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" said Bagman. "Three…Two…One…" He gave a short blast on his whistle, and Harry and Cedric ran forward into the maze. They both disappeared.

A minute later, Bagman said, "On my whistle, Viktor! Three…Two…One…" Viktor Krum entered the maze and disappeared from view. "Now Fleur! Three…Two…One!" Fleur Delacour entered the maze after Viktor and disappeared like the rest of them. The entrance of the maze was too clouded over to see if any one of them had turned a corner or what. The hedge grew to cover the entrance, sealing the champions in.

They waited. Meredith reached into the pocket of her robes for her fife and played a few tunes. Then she got bored with it and put it back in her pocket. She didn't know any of the songs the band was playing.

Just as they had done during the second task, Meredith and her group of friends, talked about their theories of who would win the tournament. They all hoped it would be Harry.

Something on Meredith's wrist was gradually getting warmer and warmer. She shifted the sleeve of her robes and saw that her wristwatch was glowing blue. _That_ was odd. It was pulsing now, every few seconds getting dimmer and then brighter than it had been glowing before.

Ginny saw it. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I don't know. It's never done this before," Meredith replied.

"Whatever's happening, you might want to get rid of it. Try taking off the watch," Neville suggested.

Meredith tried to take the watch off her wrist, but it wouldn't budge. It burnt her hand. "It won't come off," she said. _This can't be good,_ she thought, panicking just a little. The glowing was almost steady now, and was still getting brighter. Meredith was getting very nervous about this. Her friends looked nervous about it too.

The wristwatch flashed a brighter blue than any light Meredith had ever seen, blinding her and all her friends. She felt a tug on her bellybutton, and she swirled into broad nothingness.


	14. The Graveyard of Tears

**This chapter contains copied dialogue from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the book which I still do not own the rights to.**

Chapter Fourteen: The Graveyard of Tears

Meredith was spinning and spinning, being stretched through space.

She fell on her back onto a cold flagstone floor and the wind was knocked out of her lungs. She stood up as best as she could, struggling to breathe. She was in a dark room with a tall crystal chandelier that had maybe four lit candles in it. Over to one side of the room was a darkened hallway. Light appeared on one side of the hallway, as if the door to a lit room had been opened.

As she was getting her breath back, Meredith heard voices coming from the hallway. She took out her wand, not knowing what to point it at.

"She has arrived," a man's voice said from down the hallway. All Meredith could see of him was a dark silhouette. There was another shorter silhouette with him. Meredith felt very frightened. But she felt even more frightened when she saw who the two figures emerging from the dark were: Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.

"Ah, Meredith," Mrs. Malfoy said, and hugged Meredith. Meredith didn't know how to respond, so she just stood there. "How's my favorite niece?" Mrs. Malfoy asked. She didn't have the expression of disgust she had been wearing at the Quidditch World Cup.

_Hold up a minute!_ Meredith thought. _Niece? Am I related to these people? How? Why? She's my aunt? What?_

"Oh, you look just like Bella," Mrs. Malfoy continued.

"Who's Bella?" Meredith asked, still confused.

"My sister, Bellatrix. Your other aunt. Well, maybe it's just the hair. You may call me Aunt Cissy."

"But how am I related to you?"

"Your mother was one of my sisters. When she died, we offered to raise you, but your father said no. He sent you away. But now you're back in the family again!" She tried to hug Meredith again, but Meredith stepped away.

"I don't understand," she said. How could _this_ be her family? This was her aunt and this was her uncle and Draco Malfoy —that meanie— was her _cousin_? How? Why?

'Aunt Cissy' opened her mouth to speak again, but Mr. Malfoy said, "No, Narcissa. The Dark Lord will explain it to her. The mark is burning; we must go now." Mr. Malfoy put on a hood and a Death Eater mask.

"You will find out everything tonight," Aunt Cissy told Meredith, and Mr. Malfoy held onto Meredith's small wrist.

Meredith was spinning again, but this time she was being compressed tighter and tighter until she couldn't breathe.

And then they were both standing in a graveyard. Meredith fell to her knees, panting to get her breath back. The wind had been knocked out of her again.

Meredith saw her uncle go forward between the headstones and kiss the hem of someone's robes. She got to her feet and walked forward. There was a small clearing that about thirty people in hoods and masks were gathered around. _Oh, no,_ she thought. _This is definitely not good._

And then she saw the person they were all gathered around. He was tall with white-blue skin, a bald head, and a creepy glare. His eyes were red snake eyes and his nose was flat with two slits for nostrils. Long, spider-like fingers held a white wand. He wore all black robes and was barefoot. Meredith didn't have to ask who he was. _This_ was Lord Voldemort, hands down. He was alive again. Meredith gulped.

And then she saw Harry. He was bound to a giant headstone that said 'Tom Riddle.' Harry met her gaze. He mouthed, _What are you doing here?_

_I don't know,_ Meredith mouthed back. She was scared beyond belief. She saw Cedric Diggory lying on the ground a few paces outside the circle. He was dead; she just knew it. _How_ she knew it, she didn't know. She had never seen a dead person before. She became even more afraid.

Her feet felt like cement blocks, rooting her to where she was standing. She was part of the circle, she realized. She wanted to get out of here, but couldn't move a muscle. Meredith held her wand tighter.

Lord Voldemort looked around the circle. When his eyes met Meredith's a terrible shock of more fear coursed through her. She still stood frozen. Voldemort smiled evilly.

"Welcome, Death Eaters," said Voldemort quietly. "Thirteen years…thirteen years it has been since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday…We are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or _are _we?"

He put back his terrible face and sniffed the air, his slit-like nostrils widening as he did so.

"I smell guilt," he said. "There is a stench of guilt upon the air."

Another shiver of fear ran through Meredith, and she longed to run away, to wherever 'away' was. She still stood there, wishing she had a hood and mask to hide her face behind.

"I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers intact—such prompt appearances!—and I ask myself…why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?"

Nobody spoke or moved. Meredith noticed a small man on the ground, covered in what looked like blood, sobbing. Meredith wanted more than anything to be back home. Home being America.

"And I answer myself," whispered Voldemort, "they must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, and ignorance, and bewitchment…

"'And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who knew the steps I took, long ago, to guard myself against mortal death? They, who had seen proofs of the immortality of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living?

"And I answer myself, perhaps they believed a still greater power could exist, one that could vanquish Lord Voldemort…perhaps they now pay allegiance to another…perhaps that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods, of Muggles, Albus Dumbledore?" Some people murmured and shook their heads. "It is a disappointment to me…I confess myself disappointed."

One of the Death Eaters came forward and begged for Voldemort to forgive him, but Voldemort just said, "_Crucio_," and watched the man suffer. Meredith watched, even though she desperately wanted to close her eyes and ears, to shut the whole thing out. It was horrible.

"Get up, Avery," Voldemort said softly. "Stand up. You ask for forgiveness? I do not forgive. I do not forget. Thirteen long years…I want thirteen years' repayment before I forgive you. Wormtail here has paid some of his debt already, have you not, Wormtail?"

The man on the ground, who Meredith guessed was named Wormtail, continued to sob.

"You returned to me not out of loyalty but out of fear of your old friends." Meredith had no idea what Voldemort was talking about, or who would name their kid Wormtail. Voldemort continued, "You deserve pain, Wormtail. You know that don't you?"

Wormtail begged at his master's feet.

"You helped me return to my body," said Voldemort coolly, watching Wormtail cry into the dirt. "Worthless and traitorous as you are, you helped me…and Lord Voldemort rewards his helpers."

He created a magic silver hand that attached itself onto Wormtail's wrist. _So _that's_ what he was crying about,_ Meredith thought. _His hand got chopped off._

Wormtail crushed a twig into powder with his new silver hand and said, "My Lord, Master, it is beautiful…thank you…_thank you_…" He kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes.

"May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail," said Voldemort.

"No, my Lord…never, my Lord…"

Voldemort went around the circle of Death Eaters, getting each one's pledge of loyalty. Finally, in the moment Meredith had been dreading, Voldemort stood in front of her.

"And here should stand one who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already re-entered my service," Voldemort said. "Next to the space that you should be occupying, Meredith, as your father's ambassador, and my new spy."

_What?_ She was the ambassador for a Death Eater? _Her father _was a Death Eater? She said, stuttering, "I…I don't know what you're talking about." She instantly felt stupid. She looked at Harry for help understanding what was going on, but he just gave her an angry look and turned away. Meredith saw the shining shadows of dried tears on his face. Oh, how she wished she could sit down and cry. But Voldemort would probably tell her to buck up or kill her at that point.

Voldemort laughed a high, cruel laugh. Meredith felt her cheeks turn hot as she went red. Some of the Death Eaters were laughing at her as well. "You do not know?" Voldemort asked. "He has not told you?"

Meredith shook her head and looked at the grass in front of her feet. She wanted to run, but something was holding her feet to the ground. _No!_ She would _not_ be diminished this easily. She rose her head to look into Voldemort's eyes. She was angry. And afraid. Very afraid.

Voldemort was laughing again. "The coward!" he said. "Allow me to tell you the horrid truth, Miss Meredith."

No! _No! NO! __**NO!**_ This couldn't be happening. She would never live happily ever after if Voldemort told her who her father was! _No! _She didn't want to know! _**NO!**_ Voldemort was opening his mouth to speak again. _**NO! NO! NO!**_

"Meredith," Voldemort said, a mocking grin of malice on his face. "Your father is Severus Snape."

NO! _NO!__** NO! NO! NO! **_This could _not_ be happening! It was all a dream! Yes, it had to be a dream! Meredith pinched the skin between her thumb and index finger, where it hurt. No, it wasn't a dream! _**NO! NO! NO!**_ Professor Snape _couldn't_ be her father! Any second now, Voldemort would laugh again and say, "Psych! Just kidding!" and they would all eat dream-tacos. But he didn't. He grinned maliciously and left her, talking to the group of Death Eaters and to Harry Potter.

Meredith couldn't take in a single word of what Voldemort was now saying. The tears that had been building up behind her eyes for the last fifteen minutes broke through their dam and ran freely down her face. She put her head down and looked at the grass again. She shut her eyes, wishing for this to all disappear and have been just a bad dream. No, she must have misheard. But she knew she hadn't. Snape was her father, and that was that.

She looked up at Harry, who was still tied to the giant headstone, but looked like he was being tortured. He went limp against the stone and Wormtail untied him and gave him his wand. Harry and Voldemort faced each other like they were about to fight.

When Voldemort set his first curse on Harry, Meredith knew that this was her chance to get revenge. No longer frozen, she cleared her mind, which was more difficult this time than it had ever been, and fired a curse at Voldemort, intending to just knock him out so she and Harry could get out of there.

With instant reflexes, Voldemort turned, batted away the curse, and sent one back at Meredith. All she felt was excruciating pain. She saw a flash of red light, and collapsed.

When Meredith awoke, she again wondered if this whole thing was a nightmare. She wiped her face with the dirty sleeve of her robes, sat up, and looked around.

There was Cedric Diggory's body, lying still. There was what looked like a trophy. _The cup must've transported them here! It's a Portkey, like my watch was!_ Meredith figured out. She wanted to run to it, grab its handle, go back to Hogwarts… back to what? An old life? She would never be the same. She could never go back to living the life she had.

But she had to go back. She removed the watch from her wrist and dropped it on the ground. She would _not_ be brought back here ever again.

The circle of Death Eaters had moved to some thirty paces away. They were gathered around a gold dome, inside which Meredith could just make out two figures, one small, the other tall, surrounded by what looked like a bunch of ghosts. A beautiful humming noise was coming from that direction.

Meredith stood up and began walking towards Cedric's body and the Triwizard trophy. She wouldn't leave Harry behind, but just to be prepared when he was ready to leave, she would be there.

She heard Harry shout, "NOW!" and the gold dome disappeared. Harry was sprinting towards Cedric and the trophy. Not wanting to be left behind, Meredith ran as well.

She sent fire at the Death Eaters trying to curse Harry and kept running. They got to Cedric's body about the same time. Harry grabbed Cedric's cold wrist and Meredith grabbed Harry's arm. "_Accio_," Harry said with his wand pointed at the trophy, and the Portkey flew into his outstretched hand.

They spun faster and faster. Meredith held on tightly to Harry's arm. She closed her eyes and more tears leaked out.

They were back at Hogwarts, in between the maze and the stands, where people were standing up and cheering.

To Meredith's surprise, because she had thought Harry wasn't afraid of anything, Harry started crying. He held tightly to Cedric's arm, having thrown the Portkey aside. His face was pressed into the ground.

Meredith stood up a little too quickly. Her head was pounding.

Suddenly, the weight of the situation seemed to crash down upon her. Cedric Diggory was _dead_; he would never walk or talk or anything ever again. He was gone forever. Professor Snape was Meredith's father and Draco Malfoy was her cousin. They both supported Lord Voldemort. Meredith now understood what the Sorting hat had meant by saying that her question would be answered quicker if she was in Slytherin. But she didn't _want_ to be in Slytherin. But she didn't want to be Voldemort's new spy either, and that was the whole reason she had been put in Gryffindor.

Through blinding tears, Meredith saw four people coming towards her and Harry. The crowd had stopped cheering. First, Dumbledore came over and turned Harry over, asking if he was alright. Then the Minister of Magic came over, realized that Cedric was dead, and announced it to the world, the idiot. Professor Moody was limping over to them. Mr. Diggory was running to his dead son, sobbing loudly.

But she didn't care. They could all fret if they wanted to, but that wouldn't change anything.

Meredith looked around and wiped her eyes so she could see more clearly. She could see her father standing by the bleachers, with a panicked look on his face. She felt Dumbledore's hand on her shoulder. Was he asking her something? Her mind wasn't processing words right now. Her father took a step toward her, and she fled.

Meredith ran and ran and ran, not completely knowing where she was going. She ran out of the stadium, out past the champions' tent, over the ravine bridge, up the hill, crying all the way. The rain started to pour down in bucketfuls, but Meredith didn't care. She just needed to get _away_.

She reached the castle doors only to find that they were locked. She cried even harder in frustration and went around the building. Up ahead there were some tall boulders that surrounded another door into the castle. Meredith found that it, too, was locked.

Meredith sat down on the cold, wet, stone doorstep and cried her heart out. She was drenched in rain, covered in mud splatters. She was cold. Meredith pulled her knees up to her chest and sobbed into them. Now even her hair was dripping wet.

She didn't understand a thing. Why did Professor Snape have to be her father, of all people? She would much rather have had Hagrid as a father.

The coward! He hadn't even told her he was her father. He had broken his promise and left it for stupid Voldemort to tell her. He should be ashamed of himself!

She wished she had never come with Dumbledore to the wizard world in the first place. She should have followed her instincts and stayed with her American family. Well, curiosity killed the cat, and now it had also killed the witch who had owned a cat. Meredith wished this had never happened. It was harder to be a witch than all the fantasy books let on. It was harder to face evil than anything else. It was harder to be evil than the villains said it was.

No! She _was not evil!_ She would _not_ be Voldemort's spy! She would not be her father's ambassador!

Her father was a Death Eater. Professor Snape was a Death Eater. She wished she could secede from this family right now and live with the Weasleys forever…

If they would take her back. Meredith had seen the look of anger and confusion on Harry's face when Voldemort had said that Professor Snape was her father. He would probably hate her now, and say she belonged in Slytherin. The truth was, she _did_ belong in Slytherin. After all, she had only been put in Gryffindor to spy.

She _would_ go to Slytherin, just to prove she was no spy. She might miss her Gryffindor friends while she was there, but that didn't matter. _Buck up, Meredith,_ she told herself. _Nothing matters anymore. Why bother with Harry and Gryffindor anyway?_ Actually, everything _did_ matter to her. It mattered very much, and that was why she was still crying. Her friends were very anti-Slytherin. What would they think of her when she changed sides?

She was so confused. She pinched herself again, hoping to wake up and find that this was all a horrid nightmare. It didn't work.

Meredith heard squelching footsteps coming around the building. She sunk deeper into the shadows of the doorway. _Oh, please don't let it be_ him_,_ she thought. _Oh, _please.

Someone sat down on the doorstep next to Meredith. "There, there, Meredith," Professor McGonagall said. Meredith kept her face buried in her knees and sobbed silently. Professor McGonagall patted Meredith's back. "Come on," she said in a motherly tone. "Let's get you out of this rain." She unlocked the door and helped Meredith get to her feet. Then they both went inside and walked up some stairs and through a few corridors. A click clacking of dog's paws sounded on the stone floor behind them. Why a dog was following them, Meredith didn't know.

They reached the stone griffin that guarded the entrance to Dumbledore's office. McGonagall said the password and the three of them went up the stone staircase into the office. The dog came in behind them and sat down on the floor. Dumbledore was not there.

Professor McGonagall took one look at Meredith and the big black dog sitting next to her. She flicked her wand at them and hot air blew out of it until they were both dry.

McGonagall sighed, "I am sorry this happened to you, Meredith," she said. "Professor Dumbledore will be with you both in a moment." She left the room and closed the door behind her. Meredith could hear McGonagall's footsteps as she went down the stairs into the corridor.

Meredith sighed. She looked around the room and went to the large red armchair she had sat in every time she had come to Dumbledore's office to ask questions. She sat in it now, removed her shoes, and hugged her knees. She continued weeping silently, simply allowing the tears to run freely down her pale cheeks. _He has not told you?_ Voldemort's mocking voice came back to her. _Allow me to tell you the horrid truth, Miss Meredith._ More tears. Meredith couldn't bear to think again of what Voldemort had said next.

The black dog came up beside her chair and nudged at her arm. Meredith patted the dog's head. It whimpered. Meredith hugged her knees again and looked the other way.

She looked back just in time to see the dog transform into a tall man, perhaps in his forties, with an unkempt beard and shoulder-length brown curls. Meredith jumped. The man knelt down beside Meredith's chair.

"No need to be afraid," the man said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief, and handing it to Meredith, who took it gratefully. She wiped her cheeks and dabbed at her eyes.

"Who are you?" Meredith asked the man.

"Sirius Black, Harry Potter's godfather. I came to see the third task. There seems to have been a commotion. What happened?"

Her voice taking on a higher pitch as she went on, Meredith explained, "Somehow Harry and Cedric Diggory got transported by the Triwizard Cup Portkey to a graveyard in the middle of nowhere and Voldemort came back to life and killed Cedric, I guess, and I got transported by my wristwatch to I don't know where and then Mr. Malfoy took me from there to the graveyard and…" She bit her lip. She could not continue.

"Ah. Why were you there? Or, first, who are you?"

"I'm Meredith. I was there I guess to-to become Voldemort's spy. My f-father's ambassador, he said. That's why I was in Gryffindor: to spy on Harry or something." Sirius Black flinched back a little. "But I don't want to be a spy for Voldemort. He's mean and creepy and horrible. I should've been in Slytherin."

"I see." But she could tell he didn't. "What is your surname, Meredith?"

Fresh tears. She tried not to stutter. "Well, first I had a Muggle last name I'm not supposed to say. Then I was Weasley, and I've been considering myself nothing for a while. But tonight, V-Voldemort told me that my last name actually sh-should be…" She tried not to start full on crying again. "S-Snape," she ended. More tears flooded her vision and she buried her face in the handkerchief.

"Oh," Sirius said. "Well, if this makes it any better, your father is not a Death Eater and your relatives are not all Death Eaters."

"What do you mean?" Meredith raised her head and wiped her eyes again.

"Your father is actually a spy on our side. He tells Dumbledore what the Dark Lord is up to. The Dark Lord only thinks Severus is his spy. _And,_ you and I happen to be related."

"How?"

"Your mother was my cousin."

"What house were you in?"

"Gryffindor. Unfortunately, I was the only one in the family to not be in Slytherin." He saw the tears coming back into Meredith's eyes and said, "Meredith, it's alright to be in Slytherin. Your house does not determine who you are. You do."

Meredith nodded and thought about that. She finalized that she could tolerate being in Slytherin. Sirius had implied that Meredith's mother had been in Slytherin, and she didn't seem like all that mean of a person. Being in Slytherin was okay.

Dumbledore and Harry entered the office. Sirius crossed the room to where Harry was standing. "Harry, are you alright? Meredith told me some of what happened. You're hurt!"

Meredith could feel Harry's eyes glaring into the back of her chair. He knew she was there. He _was_ mad at her. Meredith got up, slipped on her shoes, and headed for the door. Her eyes met Harry's for a brief moment. She tried to say _I'm innocent. I didn't know. I don't know how this happened,_ with just her eyes, but it didn't really work.

"I will send someone for you later, Meredith. I am sorry this happened to you," Dumbledore said. Meredith didn't respond, but went out the door, closing it behind her. It didn't matter if she left. Everything was all about the "boy who lived" anyway.

As soon as she was in the corridor, Meredith started crying again. She cried as she ran to Gryffindor tower. As she said the password, the lady in the portrait woke up and asked, "What's wrong, dearie?" Meredith just shook her head and entered the common room.

Nobody else was in the common room. _Probably all asleep,_ Meredith thought. She sat in an armchair in front of the fireplace and used her wand to shoot fire onto the logs. She didn't bother to clear her mind. It would be quite impossible now with all these thoughts going through her head.

Meredith took off her shoes once more and huddled on the chair, wishing for a Snuggie, or at least a blanket. She put her wand in the pocket of her robes with her fife.

She took her wooden fife out of her pocket. It was crushed and broken in half. _No,_ she thought sadly, and put it back in her pocket. She would keep it as a memoir of the Muggle world.

Meredith thought about all that had happened. Again. The vivid images ran through her mind once more, frightening her even though she knew they were only memories now.

It was a long while before she fell asleep.


	15. Confrontation

Chapter Fifteen: Confrontation

Meredith woke up the next morning stiff and sore. Her back hurt from falling so many times on hard stone and dirt. Her legs were cramped from staying in the same place for so long.

It took her a while to realize that there was an envelope on her lap with her name on it. She slowly opened it; she suspected who it was from. She was right. The letter said:

_Dear Meredith,_

_I am so sorry for what happened to you. I knew nothing of that plan. If I had, I would have tried to stop it. The Dark Lord had no right to talk to you like that. To tell the truth, I was going to go up into the stands right after the task and take you aside to tell you. Unfortunately, I did not get that chance._

_I want you to know that I am not Lord Voldemort's spy; I am Professor Dumbledore's spy. Only the members of a secret organization called the Order of the Phoenix know this. Do not tell anyone else._

_You will have to be my ambassador at times, though. I am sorry. It is all part of Professor Dumbledore's plan for the downfall of the Dark Lord. I will need to keep favor with the Dark Lord, which means bringing you into this._

_Again, I am sorry for what happened to you. I was a coward. I should have told you before, but I was too afraid. I am sorry for everything. I hope you can please forgive me. If you can't, I do not blame you. I wish I could tell you everything now, but I know it would be best to tell you in person. I will see you when I will._

_I really am very sorry. I love you._

_-Dad_

It was the longest letter Meredith had ever received from her father. He really _did_ sound sorry for what had happened. He didn't sound at all like the Professor Snape she knew.

But could she forgive him? Could she ever forgive her father for keeping her in the dark for so long? For waiting until the last minute to intend to tell her? For not apologizing in person?

She would see in remedial potions that week. Hopefully, then, she wouldn't get angry and storm out of the dungeons.

After she had read her father's letter through another five times, Meredith changed her clothes and went down to breakfast. She didn't talk at all. She saw some of her old adoptive family coming into the Great Hall and got up to leave. Somehow, Dumbledore got to her before she had gone more than a few steps. "Come with me, Meredith," he said.

Meredith still didn't say anything, but followed Dumbledore up the stairs and to the corridor with the stone griffin. They went up the spiral staircase into Dumbledore's office.

"Sit," Dumbledore said, and Meredith sat in the red armchair in front of his desk, the same one Harry Potter had sat in to tell his side of the story the previous night. Dumbledore sat in the high-backed chair behind his desk. "Harry told me his side of what happened towards the end of the third task, Meredith. Now it is your turn. I know what Lord Voldemort told you that you didn't want to hear, but nothing else. Begin."

Meredith told Dumbledore about her watch glowing blue and transporting her to a place she assumed was the Malfoy house. She told him what they had told her, about being transported again with Mr. Malfoy to a graveyard where Harry was tied up and Voldemort was alive again. She told about what Voldemort had told her: she was an ambassador for her father, a Death Eater; the name of her father, whom she hated. Being knocked out, and then coming back to Hogwarts with Harry. Running off because she couldn't possibly face the truth. Her reassuring talk with Sirius Black in Dumbledore's office.

That was the end of her story. No, it wasn't. It was really just the beginning, but it felt like the end of everything.

Dumbledore was silent for a few moments, and then asked, "Did you receive the letter your father sent to you? Professor McGonagall said that when she delivered it, you were asleep in the common room."

Meredith nodded. She had gotten the letter. It was in her pocket at that very moment with her fife. And she didn't know why, but she still wore her mother's necklace.

Another period of silence. "Are you alright, Meredith?" Dumbledore asked. He honestly sounded concerned.

"No," Meredith answered truthfully, looking out the window and watching people walk by the lake. They looked so happy, not knowing or caring that a girl's life had been ruined with two words the night before.

"Will you be alright?" Dumbledore asked her.

"I think so," Meredith said slowly but confidently. The truth might be absolutely horrid, but she could deal with it. And if she couldn't, she would find a way to slip unnoticed back into the American Muggle world.

"Good. Keep that letter. Have you told anyone yet?"

"No. I don't think I ever will."

"Your secret will get out sometime, especially because you are not the only student who knows it."

Stupid Harry. He had probably told Ron and Hermione who she was by now, and word would spread gradually to all Gryffindors and she would be shunned. But, "Great," was all she said.

The next day, Monday, went by all too quickly. Meredith was almost sad when remedial divination was done (the key word being 'almost'). The fumes that day were incredibly dizzying, and Meredith left feeling a bit nauseous, or at least, more nauseous than she had woken up feeling.

On Tuesday morning, Meredith woke up and thought, _shoot. Today is the day. _Yes, today was the day when she would have to face her father. _I could ditch remedial potions,_ ran through her head. She had never ditched a class before. _But he would notice and get mad at me and then we'll be mad at each other forever,_ the good side of her said. _And I'll have to face him sometime anyway. Hopefully he won't call me out in class to stay after or anything. That would be embarrassing._

Meredith went for her daily run with the group that morning. She hadn't gone since Saturday morning, the day of the third task. Her running buddies would be wondering what had happened…

Especially Neville. Meredith could tell that he really cared about her. And she hadn't even _seen_ the frantic look on his face when she had been taken by the Portkey during the third task.

Meredith had made a point to avoid everyone for the last few days, waking up early, eating breakfast early, rushing out of classes, going to bed early, always drawing the curtains of her bed. She was never in one place for too long. If word got out that she was Professor Snape's daughter…

Harry was already mad at her. She knew that. He knew she knew that. She knew he knew she knew that.

The only person in the running group who was waiting for Meredith outside the castle was Neville. Maybe the others already knew and were already shunning her.

"Hi," Meredith said to Neville.

"Hi," he said back. He saw the sad, tired look on her face. "What's wrong? Is it what happened at the third task?"

All the tears she had been holding in for the last few days came. So far she had managed to keep up a sad, almost indifferent facial expression. For days, her cheeks had remained desert-dry, even at night when she knew nobody would be able to tell if she started crying but she still stayed awake doing nothing, not crying, until she fell asleep. And here was where the facade crumbled.

Neville led her over to a bench in the courtyard the students normally crossed through to get to Hogsmeade. They sat together for a while, and Meredith cried into Neville's shoulder. It felt good to get all the tears out of her system.

Neville wasn't sure exactly what else to do, so he awkwardly put an arm around Meredith and patted her shoulder.

After a few minutes of solid crying, Meredith looked up, wiped her eyes, and said, "Everyone's going to hate me, Neville, when they find out. Harry is going to tell them because he already hates me. It's just so confusing and so stupid, and I don't even know what I'm crying about because I've finally found out the answer to my question, but I can't be happy about it. I'll never be happy again, and it's all his fault."

"Whose fault? What answer?" Neville asked. "What happened when you disappeared anyway?"

Meredith sniffled. A few stray tears escaped her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Neville wiped them away with his sleeve. "This secret goes nowhere from here," Meredith said. "Please promise not to be mad at me because it's not my fault."

"I promise," Neville said, looking confused.

"Okay. So when I disappeared"—she sniffled again—"I got transported to the Malfoy house—"

"_Draco_ Malfoy's house?" Neville asked. "Sorry. Go on."

"I think it was his house, at least. I don't know. It was sort of dim. But Draco Malfoy's parents were there, and they told me I was their niece."

Neville's eyes went wide, and he opened his mouth to comment on what she said, but then he saw the sad look on Meredith's face and didn't say anything. But he couldn't help thinking, if Meredith was the Malfoys' niece, that would make her related to Mrs. Malfoy's sister Bellatrix…

"And then Mr. Malfoy took me to the graveyard where Harry was. He was tied up and V-Voldemort was there with his Death Eaters. He-he told me I'm s-supposed to be a-an ambassador f-from my f-father. I-I don't want to be his ambassador." She was crying again, but luckily not sobbing hysterically this time. "A-And he told me th-that my father is...is…"

"It's okay, Meredith. I promised, remember. Just say it. It's alright." Neville half-hugged her with the arm that was still around Meredith's shoulders.

"Okay," Meredith said once she had calmed down a little. She breathed in deeply. "M-My father… is P-Professor Snape." She covered her face with her hands. By the way she was shaking, Neville could tell she was crying again.

"It's okay, Meredith," Neville reassured her. "It's okay that you're Professor Snape's daughter. It doesn't matter. Who your dad is doesn't matter. It's who you are that counts, right?"

"I g-guess so."

"And Harry doesn't matter. He could tell the whole school but I'll bet everyone will still like you because they know it's not your fault he's your dad and you're not anything like him." He almost added, _I'll still like you,_ but decided against it. He was part of 'everyone.'

"But he's been hiding it from me for the entire year. How do I face him today?"

"I really don't know. You could try to forgive him."

They were silent for a while. Then Meredith looked at her wrist before remembering that she had no wristwatch. It was getting lighter outside. "We'd better go back," she said, standing up.

"I agree." They walked back up to Gryffindor tower in silence. Meredith didn't tell Neville that she should be in Slytherin. He would find out next year when she _was_ in Slytherin. Maybe then he would hate her.

Meredith walked up the stairs to her dormitory and grabbed a fresh set of clothes for the day. She went up to the bathrooms and took a long hot shower, wishing she could just wash away the memory of what had happened in the graveyard during the third task. But all she was able to wash away was the salt of her own tears.

* * *

Neville had been confused from the moment Meredith had said the word 'ambassador.' Was Professor Snape a Death Eater? Dumbledore trusted him. He would have to ask Meredith in private. Perhaps the next morning.

He had a hard time accepting the fact that Meredith was Professor Snape's daughter, Draco Malfoy's cousin, and the niece of Bellatrix Lestrange. But who was Meredith's mother?

She was so unlike any of them. Was she supposed to be in Slytherin? No, she was too different from them; she was a true Gryffindor. Just the fact that she hadn't died facing Voldemort was bravery beyond him. Meredith couldn't be a spy for Voldemort. She didn't want to be a spy anyway.

But she was the daughter of his greatest fear. Only last year, his boggart, a creature that transforms into the greatest fear of the person who sees it, turned into Professor Snape. He didn't know whether or not to fear Meredith too. He certainly didn't hate her like she had feared he would, but now he couldn't exactly treat her the same as everyone else.

She had changed his point of view; that was all.

* * *

Meredith was ready to go by a little later time than usual. When she was headed down to breakfast, the entire school was already up and getting ready for the day.

It had honestly felt good to tell Neville everything, even though she knew he would treat her differently because of what he now knew. He feared Professor Snape, and everyone knew it.

She knew that Neville had a secret too. A secret about why he was so spacey and traumatized after the first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson; the reason he had gone pale when Moody had done the Cruciatus Curse on the spider. The secret to why his grandmother and not his parents raised him. Why he had flinched when she had told him she was the Malfoys' niece. Yes, Neville had a secret that he didn't share with anyone.

Meredith ate breakfast alone, avoiding looking up at the teachers' table to see if her father was there. She wasn't ready to talk to him now.

A cold wash of dread spread over her. What was she going to do? How would she face her father? How would she live with the Weasleys knowing who she was? How would she deal with Harry hating her, and probably teaching Ron and Hermione to hate her too?

She decided that she would just have to wing it. Maybe she _could_ forgive her father, like Neville suggested.

Meredith's classes went by all too quickly that day. She couldn't manage to clear her mind at all in Transfiguration, and failed at the spells a million times. Potions class was spent copying notes; the room was so quiet that Meredith couldn't concentrate. And there was also the factor that her father was in the room and he knew she knew that. Meredith was glad he didn't ask her to stay behind after class.

At lunch, Meredith hardly managed to eat anything. She drank her pumpkin juice and ate half of an apple, but that was all. What she needed was a good PB&J sandwich with some chocolate milk, or some other American comfort food. She just wanted to go home.

History of Magic was boring as ever, but the minutes seemed to tick by faster for once. Remedial Transfiguration was extremely embarrassing for Meredith because she couldn't manage to do any spell correctly. She accidentally lit a small fire on the floor. Luckily, McGonagall understood what Meredith was so nervous about, and let her just recall the incantations orally without performing the spell. She knew that Meredith was perfectly capable of performing all the spells on a normal day.

Remedial Potions was next. Meredith's stomach was doing gymnastics. What was she going to say? What was her father going to say? She had so many questions, but was he going to answer all of them?

Before going down to the dungeons, Meredith stopped and reread the letter she had received on Sunday morning. To be perfectly honest, it really _didn't_ sound like mean Professor Snape talking. It sounded like someone else, a real father. Could there be another side of him that nobody had seen?

The ten-minute passing period was almost over. Meredith knew that even without a watch. Ten minutes was all too short a time in which to procrastinate.

She took a deep breath and went down the stairs to the dungeons. Her stomach was still doing flips. She didn't want to go, but at the same time she really did want to talk to her father like he was her _father_ and not just a teacher. This was going to start out a bit awkwardly; she just knew it.

When Meredith descended the last staircase and walked into the classroom, nobody was there. She wondered if her father had chickened out like she almost had. She went to her normal desk and started getting her potions kit out of her bag.

She heard a wooden door open and close. Her father was in the room. She felt sick. She wanted to run. But she couldn't run. She couldn't run away from her problems again. She had to face them.

"Good evening," her father said.

"Good evening," Meredith said back. She stood next to her station and turned to face him.

Professor Snape stood a few paces away, but he didn't seem at all like the Professor Snape she and the other students knew. He wasn't nearly as menacing as he had seemed before. There was a certain shame and sadness about him that Meredith had never seen before; he had always hidden it so well. But now it was not hidden. Meredith knew in that moment that the letters she had received—all of them, even the one she had doubted was real—were absolutely true. He _was_ sorry. He _was_ ashamed. She could just see it in his deep beetle-black eyes.

Meredith walked the few paces between them and hugged her father—her _real_ father—for the first time in her life.

And surprisingly, he hugged her back.

Meredith realized that he was crying. It wasn't loud or dramatic, like the way she sometimes cried; it was small and quiet. "What's wrong?" she asked him when they were both seated on stools.

Severus Snape wiped his eyes with a white handkerchief. "Nothing at all," he said. They were quiet for a few minutes. The he said in a more serious tone, "I want to tell you everything, but everything that I tell you could put us both in danger."

They were both completely silent for a long time. "Teach me how to hide secrets like you do, and how to lie without showing it," Meredith said.

"I was meaning to teach you that anyway, as you already have secrets to keep, like the fact that you do not wish to serve the Dark Lord, and that I am a spy against him. The Dark Lord can read minds, Meredith, and I will have to teach you how to shield your thoughts from him. Until you know completely how, I will not tell you any more secrets about the alliance against the Dark Lord."

"Then tell me what happened fifteen years ago and why. And about before." Meredith feared she had said the exact thing that would get her kicked out of remedial potions forever, but her father just nodded.

"Yes," he said. Another pause. "Yes, you have a right to know that. Now, where to start…"

"How about at the beginning, or close to it. Where did you grow up?"

Severus seemed to sadden a little. "I grew up in a town called Cokeworth," he said. "Mum was a witch and Dad was a Muggle. They argued a lot. I spent a lot of time out of the house, wandering the streets, in the park, anywhere but home. The park was where I met the girl your middle name comes from."

"Lily?"

"Yes. Lily Evans. Married James Potter…" He looked at the wall without seeing it.

"You liked her, didn't you? She's Harry's mom, right?" Meredith normally wasn't good at reading faces, but right now Professor Snape was readable as a large print book.

He became the Stoic Snape that Meredith had always known, but only for a second. "Yes to both," he said sadly. After all, Harry's mom was dead. "Going on…Hogwarts was the best home I ever had, even though I got teased a lot. Mostly by James Potter and his friends. I was in Slytherin and they were all in Gryffindor."

"Will I have to stay in Gryffindor?"

"You may move to Slytherin if you would like to. I would tell the Dark Lord that it was what Professor Dumbledore said to do."

"Yeah, I think I'll do that."

"Next year, perhaps. And it would probably be best to let Professor Dumbledore know before we go blaming him.

"Hogwarts was where I met your mother. We were friends for a while. We were both in Slytherin. She was a curious kind of person. I am glad you wear her necklace now.

"A few years after we graduated, I married your mother…small wedding…my father had left the family long before then…And then we had you, and your mother died…" He now had a faraway look on his face. "In her last words, she told me to name you Meredith.

"And I took you to a family in America. I know now that I should not have. But then, I simply wanted to escape the past. I do not mean this as an excuse, merely an explanation. I knew you would not be normal, but if I kept you and people knew about you, I could have been ruined, my weakness known. It would have been known that I had a good side, and that would not go over well with the Dark Lord. Another secret not to tell anyone."

"What weakness?"

"You. I honestly cared about you. But if anyone had known you existed, they would have tried to take you away, as a hostage of sorts. I feared that, but I feared my own appearance more. I was selfish."

"Oh. Do you have any pictures?"

"I might have a few photographs. I will look for them and show you next time we meet. Now, it is almost time for you to leave for your next class." Meredith instinctively looked at her wrist, even though there was still no wristwatch there. Her father chuckled, an odd sound to hear coming from the potions master. "I shall see you again on Friday, and then we can talk more. Goodbye for now."

"Goodbye." She picked up her bag and walked out of the dungeons with a considerably lighter heart.

But her pain wasn't all relieved. Harry Potter still hated her, and she could only guess what Neville thought about her now. And what about the Weasleys? If Ron knew, she would never be able to live peacefully with them again. She wondered how much an apartment in the wizard world would cost for the summer. She would certainly need a summer job for that.

Was there the option of going to her father's house and living there? No matter what, she was moving out of the Weasley house as soon as possible. She could expand her backpack again and move from place to place if she needed to. Wizard hobo. That would be cool, but might not be the best idea.

Believe it or not—and Meredith couldn't really believe it herself—Meredith looked forward to Potions during the last two weeks of school. Harry still didn't talk to her, though he didn't give her angry looks in the corridors either. Neville seemed a little afraid of Meredith. Her old friends didn't talk to her very often; she wondered if it was because they knew her secret of because they didn't know what happened to her. The running group never completely reformed again.

But that didn't matter. She would be away from her friends for most of the following years anyway. That is, if she was in Slytherin. She hoped, though she never thought she would, that Dumbledore would allow her to switch.

Meredith went the next Saturday to Dumbledore's office to ask just that. "You really _want_ to switch houses, Meredith?" he asked in disbelief. "And into Slytherin? Why, I never thought I would ever hear that from a student. I trust then that you and your father are on better terms?" Meredith nodded. "Very well. Only the Hat can answer." He pulled the old Sorting Hat off its shelf and handed it to Meredith.

For the third time—had any other student worn the Sorting Hat this many times?—Meredith put on the hat and let it slip over her eyes.

"I see what you know," the Hat said. "It would be wise to change to Slytherin, yes. After all, you are very powerful, clever too. You could unite current enemies...Go to Slytherin."

Meredith took off the hat, handed it back to Dumbledore, and recounted to him what the Hat had said. "Good, then the Hat and I are in agreement. There will come a time, though, when Lord Voldemort will ask you and your father why you were moved," Dumbledore said seriously. Then he smiled. "Blame it on me."


	16. Leaving Hogwarts

**This chapter contains some stuff copied from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Dumbledore talks a _lot._**

Chapter Sixteen: Leaving Hogwarts

Meredith had her answers. She knew who her real parents were, who she was related to, why she had been sent away, and where she would be next year. She didn't tell anyone, though. Nobody needed to know.

Where she would spend the summer was a little harder. She had found an expanding spell in the library and planned to use it on her backpack before she left school; then she would move out of the Weasley house. She hoped apartments weren't expensive.

It was the Friday before all the students would have to go home for the summer. Meredith walked into remedial potions expecting to have to say goodbye to her father for the summer.

As she set down her bag, Professor Snape walked to her and handed her an envelope. Meredith was confused. Why would he have written her a note? "Open it," he said.

She did. Inside there was a photograph of a much younger-looking Severus Snape and a smiling woman in a white dress. The picture moved; the woman was laughing, and Severus was attempting to smile. He didn't look as enthusiastic as she did.

Meredith caught a glint of something bright in the black-and-white photo. She looked closer; it was her mother's necklace, the one Meredith now wore. The lady in the picture looked a bit like Meredith, she thought. She had the same dark curly hair and smile as Meredith did.

Meredith turned the picture over. On the back it said:

_Severus and Talitha_

_1996_

"That was our wedding photo," her father said. Meredith was really seeing her mother for the first time in her life. She wished she could meet her mother, even if it was just for one day. She wanted to hear her mother's laugh as it had been in this picture. They could laugh together, tell stories, go on picnics, anything mother-daughter-ish.

But her mother was dead, Meredith remembered. Her mother was cold and still, lying in the ground somewhere else, never to see her daughter all grown up and back in what should have been her lifelong home. Meredith tried not to cry. She had cried enough during the past few weeks anyway.

She managed to say, "You found it." She gave a small smile, and started to hand the envelope with the picture in it back to her father.

"No, you keep it," Severus said to his daughter.

Meredith put the envelope in the pocket of her robes where she still kept her fife and her father's latest letter. "Thanks."

There was a long pause when father and daughter just looked at each other. Meredith was prepared for another mind-shielding practice session like the last few of the remedial potions classes had been. She was getting rather good at it, and could now lie without a change in facial expression.

Instead of starting right away, her father asked, "Would you like to spend the summer with me, Meredith?"

A place to stay! She wouldn't have to get an apartment! She could just move in with her father! Why hadn't she really thought about this possibility before? "Sure," she said.

"And next summer?"

"And every summer after that, yeah." She could tell her father was happy at knowing that she forgave him enough to live with him.

"I will write to the Weasleys to say you will be going there from King's Cross Station. Pack your things, and I will come to the Weasley house for you a few days later. Agreed?"

Meredith nodded. Only a few days do deal with her Gryffindor family and then…

Then they would all learn her secret when her father came for her. Rats. She hoped they didn't spread the word and talk about her behind her back all summer. She knew there would at least be a little bit of talking. But then again, Meredith would need to get used to whispers. She had a feeling she would be getting a lot of those when the whole school found out who her father was. And they were bound to find out soon once the Weasley kids all knew.

"And, about the handwriting on the letters..."

"I have a special quill that disguises and changes handwriting."

"Oh."

The rest of the lesson went rather well, with Meredith closing her mind as her father tried to break into her thoughts. There were quite a few major fails, but eventually Meredith got the hang of it. (Reading the _Eragon_ series at least five times the year before definitely had something to do with her success.)

Saturday night was the leaving feast, and the next morning, everyone would be boarding the train home. The usual house banners were gone, and there was only a giant black drape behind the teachers' table. Meredith sat with her normal group at the Gryffindor table. She realized this was the last time she would be sitting here.

Everyone seemed oddly quiet. There wasn't much talking going on. Meredith remembered Cedric. That was why there were no bright colors or bright faces. Everyone ate slowly, talking in whispers. Once they had finished, Dumbledore got up from his chair.

Dumbledore started his speech. "The end," he said, looking around the hall at them all, "of another year."

He paused, and his eyes fell upon the Hufflepuff table. All the people sitting there looked incredibly sad and pale. They had, after all, lost a student.

"There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight," said Dumbledore, "but I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here," he gestured toward the Hufflepuffs, "enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory."

They all did it; the benches scraped as everyone in the Hall stood, raised their goblets, and echoed, in one loud, low, rumbling voice, "Cedric Diggory."

"Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities that distinguish Hufflepuff house. He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not." Meredith definitely missed Cedric, even though she had only known him for less than an hour going to the Quidditch World Cup. Dumbledore continued, "I think that you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about. Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."

A panicked whisper swept through the Great Hall. People were staring at Dumbledore in disbelief, in horror. He looked perfectly calm as he watched them mutter themselves into silence. Meredith had put on her stoic face, the one her father had taught her. She had known what the rest of the school had only just found out.

"The Ministry of Magic does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so—either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory.

"There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection with Cedric's death," Dumbledore went on. _Please not me,_ Meredith thought. _I didn't do anything._ "I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter." _Whew!_

Poor Harry. Nearly everyone turned in his or her seat to look at him, as if he was the reason Cedric was dead.

"Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort," said Dumbledore. "He risked his own life to return Cedric's body to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honor him." _I escaped Lord Voldemort too, Dumbledore. But don't mention me._

Dumbledore turned to Harry and raised his goblet once more. Meredith and most others followed suit.

"The Triwizard Tournament's aim was to further and promote magical understanding. In the light of what has happened—of Lord Voldemort's return—such ties are more important than ever before."

Dumbledore looked around the Hall at all the visitors.

"Every guest in this Hall will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again—in the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.

"It is my belief—and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken—that we are facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of your families have been torn asunder. A week ago, a student was taken from our midst.

"Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."

By Sunday, the day all the students were leaving Hogwarts on the train, Meredith was all packed and ready to go. She got into one of the carriages taking all the students to the train, and waited for it to leave. A few younger students who couldn't find an empty seat joined her in the carriage. Her friends were somewhere else.

When they got to the train, Meredith quickly got a compartment and put her trunk up on the luggage rack. All the pushups that winter had made her strong enough to do so without help.

She waited with the outside compartment door open, hoping that at least one of her friends would see that it was open and sit with her. Nobody came. The train whistled and Meredith closed the compartment door. There were no other students on the platform anyway.

The train started to pull away from the station, and Meredith was still sitting alone in her compartment. She saw a figure on the platform when she looked back. It was her father. He saw her leaning out of the window and waved. Meredith waved back. Then her father started walking back to the castle. Meredith sat back down in her compartment.

Half an hour later, as Meredith was watching the countryside scenery go by, she heard a knock on the compartment door. It made her jump. "Come in," she said without looking to see who it was.

She turned around. In walked Neville, Luna, and Ginny, Meredith's Triwizard task buddies. Perhaps now, she should add a 'former' to that statement, as they might not be her friends anymore. They all sat down opposite Meredith.

"Hi," Meredith said.

"Hello," each of her friends said back in turn.

"Is it true? Are you really Professor Snape's daughter? Harry Potter has been talking about it," Luna said. She seemed to be asking the question all three of Meredith's friends had.

"Yes, but I'd prefer if you didn't tell anyone else," Meredith replied.

"I would think you would be in Slytherin if you really were, because that's his house." Luna loved to pry and ask awkward questions, didn't she?

"Someone bewitched the Sorting hat. I'll be in Slytherin next year." She wanted to add,_ Please don't hate me,_ but decided against it. They could decide for themselves whether or not to hate her for something that wasn't her fault.

There was complete silence for a while. The only sound was the chug-chug of the train engine. Neville broke the silence, "You should talk to Harry," he said. "Tell him what you told me. He's quite angry still. He said you're spying on him for You-Know-Who."

Silence again. "You're right," Meredith said, looking down at the floor. "Which compartment is he in?"

"Two to the left," Ginny said.

Meredith got up and went out of the compartment. _Why am I doing this?_ She asked herself. Why was she doing this, indeed? Oh, well. No turning back now. She knocked on the compartment door two to the left of her own.

Through the glass of the compartment door, Harry saw Meredith and turned away quickly. Hermione saw who it was, looked at Harry, and said, "Come in, Meredith." Meredith slid the compartment door open and stepped in.

"We need to talk, Harry," she said. "Would you mind, Ron? Hermione?"

"Not at all," Hermione said as she and Ron got up and left. Actually, she seemed to be pulling Ron with her. So Harry had infected Ron with his attitude. Great.

Meredith sat down in the seat across from Harry, who was still looking out the window, pretending to ignore her.

"I know you're mad at me, Harry," she said. "And I don't care if you're listening to me or not, but I'm going to tell you this anyway. My dad really is on our side. He really is on the good side like you and me. He's part of the anti-Voldemort group. Yeah, I use his real name like you do, now that we've both seen him in person.

"Just to let you know, I _will_ have to be his ambassador sometimes, but that doesn't mean I'm on Voldemort's side, 'cause I'm not. I just have to be an ambassador so Dumbledore can know what's going on with Voldemort.

"I'm not going to spy on you. When I meet Voldemort again and he expects a report about you, I'll make up some crap that sounds true and he'll never know. I can lie to him and not show it. I would never really spy on you for Voldemort. I won't have much chance to anyway. I'll be in Slytherin next year. I would have been put there if the Sorting hat hadn't been bewitched when I put it on. I'm going to tell Voldemort that Dumbledore wanted to put me in Slytherin, so I won't have much chance for spying, and that I've decided to serve him with my father.

"I'm sorry if you still hate me because Professor Snape is my dad. I know he's mean to you because your dad was mean to him, but just because my dad is mean to you doesn't mean that you can hate on me. Who people are doesn't always reflect who their fathers are. Think about that. Anything you have to say?"

Silence from Harry. He was still sitting there, looking out the window without really seeing.

"Okay. I'll leave now." Meredith got up and went out the compartment door. As she left, she thought she heard Harry say, "Rubbish." She sighed. It was going to be a great summer, but already Meredith could tell it was going to be a very long school year.

**A note on the origin of names: Talitha is the name of a star in Ursa Major, I believe. The name means "little girl" in Aramaic, which I thought was fitting because Talitha is the youngest daughter (by about five years) of Cygnus and Druella Black. Yes, Talitha is an OC of mine. She does not exist in JK's universe. **

**A big thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed and favorited and put this story in their alerts. You won't believe how excited I still get whenever I check my email and it says I have a new review. I'm sorry if things you didn't want to happen did happen in the story. Remember that I finished writing this six months ago. By the way, Sirius Black was a really good guess.**

**Please continue to review and give feedback. I hope you liked the story. Book 2 has been posted for a while now, though it is still in progress. Read it if you liked this story!  
**

**Thank you again for reading!**

**-Violet**


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